48 Rev. Robert Godfrey 



mg of young birds under the roof and I knew that the red- 

 wings had defied me after all. In 1910 they chose another site 

 under the roof, and are probably maintaining their hold in the 

 building to this day. From long-continued observation I believe 

 that the nesting-birds remain, in certain cases at least, all the 

 year round at their chosen haunt, but in winter great flocks of 

 these birds gather at suitable feeding-places and may remain in 

 flocks for a lengthened period. Flocking begins on a small 

 scale at the beginning of March and reaches its climax in the 

 spring months. In 1 909, during September, October and Novem- 

 ber, as my correspondents, Messrs. Weir and John Ross, in- 

 formed me, hundreds of Red-winged Starlings frequented King- 

 williamstowTi and roosted nightly in the graveyard and elsewhere. 



Belonging as it does to a noisy tribe, the Red-winged Starling 

 is ever proclaiming its presence by its whistling call ^i-ljoo, 

 uttering it repeatedly and lengthening it out at frequent intervals 

 into a more pronounced drawl. The alarm is a harsh guttural 

 lengthened sound, resembling the ra sound in kafir. Noisy 

 though the bird is, however, it swoops into its roosting-place under 

 a verandah in perfect silence as a rule. At Somerville, one 

 used to roost in the full glare of my study-lamp ; on rare occasions 

 it uttered its call, but usually it swooped into its place suddenly 

 and silently, though the slight noise made in alighting was suffi- 

 cient to attract my attention. During heavy storms it sometimes 

 called in the darkness. Like the European Starling, this species 

 settles on the backs of sheep, but not nearly to such an extent as 

 its northern ally. It is a great fruit-eater, feeding on the berries 

 of the wild currant and the jessamine, the fruit of the cabbage 

 tree, the nectar of aloes and blue gums, and coming to our 

 gardens to take toll of grapes, apples, figs and other fruit. The 

 bird generally settles down leisurely at the fruit it is eating, 

 but it may view the berry it covets from a distance, fly towards 

 it, and, plucking it off in flight, pass on with it to another perch. 

 When the flying termites emerge, the redwings join in the throng 

 of birds that gather to the spoil, and fly up into the air and catch 

 them on the wing; they also devour such larger fry as grass- 

 hoppers. Nesting lasts from the latter half of September to the 



