. Foreign birds for cage and aviary . teaux, is without a nest ofthis Starling. The nest is large, constructed externallyof twigs, lined with sitraw and soft materials, and con-tains tliree oi four eggs, whicli are clear greenish blue,with violet or brownish red spots, largest and moStnumerous towards the thick end, and measure about Mr. Witherby {The Ibis. 1901, p. 249) met with thespecies .some fifty miles south of Khartoum and remarksthat it is shy and artful, keeping one of the party onwatcli fiom a topmost bough. Just as you arrivewithin gunshot the sentinel gives a warning w
. Foreign birds for cage and aviary . teaux, is without a nest ofthis Starling. The nest is large, constructed externallyof twigs, lined with sitraw and soft materials, and con-tains tliree oi four eggs, whicli are clear greenish blue,with violet or brownish red spots, largest and moStnumerous towards the thick end, and measure about Mr. Witherby {The Ibis. 1901, p. 249) met with thespecies .some fifty miles south of Khartoum and remarksthat it is shy and artful, keeping one of the party onwatcli fiom a topmost bough. Just as you arrivewithin gunshot the sentinel gives a warning whistle, soshrill that it sounds almost like a squeak, at whichall the flock take a short, straight flight to anothertree. When feeding on the ground this species is moreeasily approached, and its gait and action are similarto tliose of our Starlings. (Shellev, Binds of Africa,Vol. v., pp. 94. 95.) Russ obsen-es that it is extremely rare in the Germanmarket. The collections of the Paris and London/Zoological Gardens have possessed AyV\^-,l (iKEEX GUSSY STAlLlNGfS FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. Typical Starlings. Unspotted Starlino (Sturnus unicolor). Uniform glossy black with ,purple reflections ; wingsand tail blackish-brown ; inner primaries and secondariespaler towards the tips, and fringed with black; billyellow; feet pale brown ; irides dark brown. Femalerather duller, and with a shorter wing. Hab., thecountries of the Mediterranean. J. L. S. Whitaker observes (Birds of Tunisia,Vol. II., pp. 4, 5) :— S. iinirolor is to be met with, asa rule, in small colonies in the neighbourhood of cliffsand rocky, broken country, which afford suitable shelterand convenient nesting places for tlie birds. NearKasrin the character of the country is eminentlyadapted to this Starlings requirements, and many ofthe birds consequently breed there. The nests areplaced in the holes and crevices of the cliffs, and areloosely constructed of dry grasses or straw, with alining of feathers. T
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