126 THE BIRDS OF SHERWOOD FOREST. 
the winter of 1849, a small party were seen in a clump 
of Scotch firs at Edwinstowe, and were all shot by Mr. 
H. Wells on the 4th March. Within a month from 
that date four of the American White-winged Crossbills 
(L. leuwcopterus) were shot in the same trees. The 
latter is a rarer visitor to this country than the 
former, and though a native of North America, being 
found in all the extensive forests of that continent, it 
yet appears to be sparsely distributed in Sweden and 
Norway, and it was doubtless from these countries that 
our visitors came, and not from America. Both species 
were busily engaged in feeding on the fir-cones. 
The Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) frequents the old 
oaks in the forest by thousands and tens of thousands. 
Every tree during the summer has its several pairs of 
birds, who build their nests in the holes and decayed 
cavities in company with the jackdaws. In the autumn 
they collect together in immense flocks, and leave the 
district for the winter, resorting to the reed and osier 
beds on the Trent. Their return to us is very gradual, 
a few pairs being seen in some years as early as the 
middle of January, in others not until some weeks later. 
Pairing has already taken place in those who reach 
us the earliest, and their peculiar guttural breeding-call 
I have heard at the beginning of February. Every 
week adds to the number until we receive our full com- 
plement, and the woods resound with their prolonged 
plaintive whistle, alternating with an oft-repeated 
gurgling note. 
The starling is not only subject to local migrations, 
but I believe large flocks leave us for the continent in 
the autumn, and return in the spring ; indeed, the fact 
that on one occasion seventeen dozen were picked up 
