4 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



a species, he thought, confined to that part of the 

 country, and perhaps never seen in the south, and 

 he wanted very much to know what it was. As I 

 couldn't go to him he would try to describe it. Every 

 morning after breakfast, when he and his people fed 

 the birds on the lawn, this strange species, to the 

 number of a dozen or more, would appear on the 

 scene — a bird about the size of a thrush with a long 

 sharp yellow beak, the entire plumage of a very dark 

 purple and green colour, so glossy that it sparkled 

 like silver in the sunshine. They were also sprinkled 

 all over with minute white and cream-coloured spots. 

 A beautiful bird, and very curious in its behaviour. 

 They would dart down on the scraps, scattering the 

 sparrows right and left, quarrelling among them- 

 selves over the best pieces; and then, when satisfied, 

 they would fly up to the roof and climb and flit about 

 over the tiles and on the chimneys, puffing their 

 feathers out and making all sorts of odd noises — 

 whistling, chattering, tinkling, and so on. 



I replied that the birds were starlings, and he was 

 rather unhappy about it, since he had known the 

 starling as a common bird all his life, and had imagined 

 he knew it too well to take it for a strange and rare 

 species. But then, he confessed, he had never looked 

 closely at it; he had seen it in flocks in the pastures, 

 always at a distance where it looks plain black. 



If the lady who discovered the blue-tit, or nun, 

 and my friend who found out the starling, would 

 extend their researches in the feathered world they 

 would find a hundred other species as beautiful in 



