STURNIDAE—STARLINGS.
129
says (47. 88) one was " killed by a boy with a stone on Epping Plain. Another
was killed in 1840." English includes it (43. i. 24) in his Epping List. In 1858
Hy. Doubleday wrote (23. 6093)
'' I have seen numbers of these
birds on the coast of Essex." Lieut.
Legge says (34. 90) that in the
second week of November, 1865
several occurred near Shoebury
during mild weather. Mr. Kerry
says (40, iii. 182) that in October
and November, 1878, large flocks
frequented the shore at Walton
and Dovercourt, and many were
shot, while it is more or less com-
mon most winters round Harwich.
Four were shot near Walton-on-
the-Naze early in November, 1879
(29. Nov. 8). Mr. R, H. Eve of Maldon has several which he shot on the sea-
wall there.
Mr. Hope writes : " I saw the first, which was very tame, this year (1888) on
Sept. 24th, just before a gale, but they generally arrive in flocks of hundreds
about a month or six weeks later. When they first land they will often let one
walk within a yard of them." Mr. Stacey of Dunmow preserved some shot near
there in or about the winter of 1879-80.
Family STURNIDAE.
Starling: Sturnus vulgaris.
An abundant resident. It has become of late years very much
commoner than formerly. Cream-coloured, pied, or white varieties
are not very rare.
Mr. Grubb says (39), " This bird
almost darkens the air on our
meadows [at Sudbury] in winter."
Mr. Buxton says (47. 8;) that it is
"perhaps the most abundant bird
in the [Epping Forest] district
after the sparrow." W. H. Hill
speaks of it (12. vi. 452) as occur-
ring " in immense clouds on the
marshes " near Southminster about
1832. Yarrell says (14. ii. 46) that
in summer and autumn they "roost
by thousands among reeds in the
fenny parts of Essex, Cambridge,
and other counties."
The Tuck Collection in the Saffron Walden Museum contains several white
specimens taken from a nest at Quendon in May, 1858. Lieut. Legge records
K