2i6 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



saw eat berries, whereas all the rest of this tribe, except 

 perhaps the Water-Ouzel, are bacinivorous." (Will. " Orn." 

 1678, p. 24.) 



Thomas Allis, in 1844, wrote : — 



Sturnus vulgaris. — Common Starling — Universally common. 



This favourite bird, one of our commonest and most 

 generally distributed residents, has increased enormously 

 within the past half-century, particularly in the valleys of 

 the Wharfe, Nidd, and Washburn, and in Swaledale and 

 Arkengarthdale, where at the present day it is quite an 

 abundant species, being even found to an elevation of 1000 

 feet, and known to nest at Malham, Mr, Ford, of Caistor, 

 writing in the Field, 20th October 1888, remarks that a friend 

 of his told him he recollected the first pair of Starlings that 

 came to Swaledale, at Low Row ; a few years after they 

 made their way to Summerside, then to Muker, Keld, and 

 the head of the dale. 



An interesting remark in connection with Yorkshire is 

 contained in a letter from the late Duke of Argyll to Mr. 

 Harvie-Brown, as follows : — 



" Inverary, January 19th 1894. — Dear Mr. Harvie-Brown, 

 I never saw a Starling till I went to England in 1836. I 

 still recollect the great interest with which I saw the bird 

 for the first time at the Posting Inn at Northallerton in 

 Yorkshire. Argyll." 



The immunity from persecution which it enjoys, and its 

 general usefulness and popularity have served it in good stead; 

 Thomas Allis observed that it was universally common in 

 1844, and its numbers have, subsequently to that period, 

 multiplied almost beyond belief. 



This species ranks numerically next to the Skylark on 

 migration, and is often associated with it at that period, 

 an early record connected with this phase of its history is 

 dated 1834, when a vast number were taken in an exhausted 

 state below Scarborough Castle ; while in Rennie's Field 

 Naturalist, 1833, mention is made of some alighting on 

 board ship off the Yorkshire coast on 7th October 1833. 

 Enormous flocks arrive from the Continent in autumn, and at 



