6 Coward, Faunal Survey of RosfJierne Mere. 



uncommon, does occur from time to time in the woods, 

 and in the Gale Bog, it may perhaps be included for the 

 same reason. The Magpie may be seen seeking food on 

 the spits of sand or deltas at the mouths of inflow brooks, 

 as well as on sandy margins when the water is low. What 

 it is seeking is not so easy to tell, but it is probably the 

 smaller molluscs, worms, crustaceans and insects which 

 are stranded on the sand. 



The connection of the 

 Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus. Starling with the mere is 



domiciliary rather than 

 gastronomic, although it is not during its nesting season 

 that it becomes a factor in the economy of the mere. The 

 gregarious Starling makes use of the reed-beds for roost- 

 ing purposes in the autumn, and to a lesser extent in 

 winter. The migratory movements of the Starling are so 

 complicated that it is impossible to say how many of the 

 birds which roost in the reeds are home-bred and how 

 many immigrants or passage migrants, bat the numbers 

 which congregate nightly are so immense that we can 

 safely conclude that very many of them have come from 

 abroad. The birds begin to collect in small parties soon 

 after the breeding season is over, and in July and August 

 many repair to the reeds, but the numbers reach their 

 height in September, October and November. In these 

 months the gatherings cannot be counted with anything 

 like accuracy. Even before dusk parties of birds, varying 

 in numbers, begin to come in from all directions ; at first 

 they collect in trees in the neighbourhood of the mere, 

 but so soon as a large number have arrived, they go 

 through wonderful concerted aerial evolutions. The flocks 

 will mass together, split up, join again, wheel and change 

 direction with remarkable accord. VVe have seen a line 

 of many thousands of birds, extending far beyond the 



