74 
still manages to maintain itself in considerable numbers. The female 
is, as throughout the raptorial family, considerably larger than the 
male, and it is unfortunately unquestionable that she destroys, 
especially at the breeding season, numbers of the young of the game 
birds near whose haunts she invariably nests. The site selected by 
the Sparrow-Hawk for nesting purposes, is frequently a corner of a 
wood or on the edge of a glade inside a wood, and so suitable a 
position does this site appear to be that pair after pair of Sparrow- 
Hawks may be shot from the nest only to be replaced each succeeding 
year by another couple. The male is blue-black above, the breast 
white suffused with brown, barred with a darker shade of brown, 
while his mate is rather lighter in colour, the breast white barred 
with ashy grey. The legs of both are yellow, with toes greatly 
developed, giving great grasping power, and ending in needle- 
pointed talons. The eggs, five or six in number, are of bluish-white 
ground colour, richly blotched and marked with reddish-brown. 
Starling. — This bird is familiar to all, though at one time it was 
a comparatively rare bird, particularly in Scotland, where Sir 
Walter Scott, it is recorded, rode 30 miles to see a nest of young, so 
uncommon was this bird in his day. Through whatever cause, it is 
unquestionable that the number of Starlings in Britain, where it is a 
resident and widely distributed breeding bird, within recent years 
has greatly increased. In addition to our own native birds, 
enormous numbers of Starlings flock to our shores in the autumn 
months, and one of the most wonderful and interesting sights in 
bird life is to be witnessed, when in the darkening hour of an 
autumn afternoon one waits near one of their roosting places, 
from every point of the compass at short intervals single birds, little 
bunches, larger companies, and great flocks may be seen winging 
their way to the shelter where they pass the night. The writer has 
on more than one occasion witnessed the gathering of these birds, 
comprising hundreds of thousands, in one comparatively small 
shrubbery, where their whistling and chattering resembled the noise 
of many waters. Before finally settling these birds rise again and 
again into the air, wheel round several limes, and then pour them- 
selves down from on high into the bushes before they finally settle 
to rest for the night, and to see these countless thousands of birds 
wheel round, then suddenly turn, almost at right angles, as though 
animated by one single impulse, is suggestive of some strange 
understanding between the units, which can enable the mass to act 
so simultaneously. 
The Starling is some eight inches in length, and is of a dark blue 
colour, washed with brilliant metallic green and blue lustre, though 
a grey spot at the point of each feather subdues this brilliance and 
imparts a brownish tinge. It is an indefatigable worker, and may 
be seen in pairs or small family parties obtaining its food, which 
consists of slugs, small worms, grubs, and various forms of insect 
life, by carefully examining almost every individual inch of lawn 
and pasture over which it runs with hurried eager steps. 
The Starling builds its loosely-constructed nest, consisting of a 
few straws, in holes, frequently in hollow trees, but in all sorts of 
situations, such as holes in walls, drain pipes, in chimneys or corners 
of the roofs of sheds and byres, while a favourite situation is in 
holes in the thatch of an old cottage. The eggs are of an exquisite 
and delicate pale blue, unspoiled, and number from five to eight, or 
even nine, though it has been suggested that in the case of numbers, 
such as the last, thev are the product of two hens. 
