FEATHERED RESIDENTS IN THE GROUNDS OF TERRICK HOUSE. 97 



session of this one as soon as discovered, and thus destroyed the opportunity 

 I might otherwise have had of observing what ulterior proceedings the bird 

 would have adopted in reference thereto. I much regret my precipitancy in 

 the matter, as the issue might have been of some interest. 



I once saw a pair of these birds in great distress, in consequence of a 

 whole army of invaders, in the shape of a swarm of bees, having stormed 

 and taken possession of the citadel which contained their infant progeny. 

 They seemed fully to understand and appreciate the formidable nature of the 

 powers possessed by these invaders, for their screams and outcries, so long 

 as the enemy continued to occupy the fortress, which was the greater part 

 of one summer's afternoon, were loud, piercing, and incessant. Happily, 

 however, the enemy, not finding the place sufficiently commodious, evacuated 

 it before nightfall, and, much to their honour, and to the infinite relief of 

 the parent birds, they, like brave soldiers, had disdained to harm or injure 

 the helpless; for, on their leaving, the young birds were found to have 

 sustained no manner of hurt, although unquestionably they must have been 

 for some time in imminent danger of suffocation. 



The young of this species remain in the nest until they are capable of 

 sustaining very lengthened flights, in fact until they have become almost ^s 

 perfect adepts in the art of flying as their parents. The youth of our own 

 species would do well to take these birds for an example, and endeavour to 

 repress their eagerness to escape from the trammels of home and education, 

 and launch themselves upon the world ere they have become capable of 

 resisting its temptations and allurements, and of avoiding the snares and 

 dangers with which they are sure to be surrounded. 



I have known a pair of these birds dispute, and that successfully, possession 

 of the hole in a tree with the Green Woodpecker, (Piciis viridis,) notwith- 

 standing the superiority in size and strength of the latter bird. 



In September last I witnessed what to me is an entirely new feature in 

 the habits of the Starling. During the whole of one afternoon, some thirty 

 or forty of these birds were to be seen over a particular spot, evidently 

 hawking for insects after the manner of the Swallow tribe; or, from their 

 vacillating mode of flight, they might be said to bear a stronger resemblance 

 to a number of overgrown Bats in quest of prey. Launching forth from 

 the top of an elm they traversed the air in all directions; and after making 

 sundry captures returned, apparently fatigued with the unwonted exercise, 

 and after resting for a few moments again launched forth to repeat their 

 aerial movements. That they were in pursuit of some kind of insect 

 seemed to me evident enough from their sudden and abrupt turnings — darting 

 off occasionally at acute or other angles, and clearly making a grab at 

 something; possibly an unusual flight of some coleopterous insect suited to 

 their taste, caused this departure from their ordinary manner of seeking their 

 food. 



As an instance of the pertinacity with which these birds cling to a 



