BIRDS IN CORNISH VILLAGE 279 



to convince me that the starling, too, lives all the 

 year with his mate. 



Each morning the birds that had made our 

 village their daily feeding-ground, would, on ar- 

 rival from the roosting-place in one body, break 

 up into numerous small parties of half a dozen 

 to twenty or more birds. All day long these little 

 flocks were hurrying about from field to field, 

 spending but a short time at one spot, so hungry 

 were they and anxious to find a more productive 

 one, and in every field they would meet and mix 

 with other small groups, and presently all would 

 fly, and breaking up into small parties again go 

 ofF in different directions. Thus one had a con- 

 stant succession of little flocks in the field from 

 morning till night, and I found from counting 

 the birds in each small group that in three cases 

 in four they were in even numbers. Again, I have 

 often seen a group of three, five, seven or nine 

 birds on the field, and after a while a solitary 

 starling from a neighbouring field or from some 

 treetop near by has flown down to join the group 

 and make the numbers even. 



The birds when feeding, I have said, are al- 

 ways in a desperate hurry, and little wonder, since 



