52 OUR WINTER BIRDS 



April, and by May 15 we may hear the grating call 

 of the young Starlings as they follow their parents 

 about on the lawn and beg for food. The birds now 

 begin to gather in flocks which, by August, may con- 

 tain several thousand individuals. 



At this season one may see the wonderful aerial 

 evolutions for which Starlings are famous. One 

 might believe that they had been called together for 

 fall maneuvers. They swing through the air chang- 

 ing from one formation to another with a precision 

 which would excite the envy of the best trained sol- 

 dier. Now they look like a dark round cloud, then 

 they lengthen out into the shape of a huge balloon, 

 then in a second they whirl as one bird and stream 

 away like a banner of smoke. 



In the fall I always welcome the sight of these 

 birds drilling in the air. But before the Starlings 

 came, the appearance of a flock of black birds in 

 late February or early March was an unmistakable 

 sign of the coming of spring. They might be Red- 

 wings, or they might be Crackles; but they surely 

 were the advance guard of the great army which was 

 marching up from the South. But now, who knows, 

 they may be only Starlings ! 



