250 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



habits of birds, I know few sights more likely to excite 

 wonder and admiration than the regular arrival of the 

 starlings from all quarters to any particular broad. As 

 long as ever daylight remains, the different flights may 

 be seen arriving and blending vdth the earlier masses ; 

 now skimming over the reed-stems in their rapid 

 movements, now lost amongst the deepening shades 

 upon the marshes, and again appearing for a moment in 

 the last gleam of daylight on the water, and thus they 

 continue their varied evolutions with no Httle noise and 

 bustle, till all are at length settled in their accustomed 

 resting places. To have any conception, however, of 

 the numbers thus collected together in no very large 

 amount of space, it is necessary to row quietly about 

 the broad some few hours later, when no sound but the 

 deep notes of the coots and water-hens, or the cry of the 

 dabchick, is heard in the stillness of the night. Pre- 

 sently, in passing the side of a reed-bed, a confused 

 rustling noise bespeaks the roost of the starlings. The 

 least splash of the oars, or the sound of the voice, sends 

 confusion amongst their ranks, whilst a shout or the 

 knocking of an oar on the boat-side causes an uproar so 

 loud and simultaneous, that I can Hken it to nothing 

 but waves in a storm breaking heavily on a pebbly 

 beach. With the earliest appearance of daybreak, 

 these birds may be seen again departing, at first singly 

 or in detached parties, followed later by the main 

 bodies, and dispersing in all directions for their morn- 

 ing's meal. As soon, however, as sharp weather sets 

 in, and the reeds are no longer available for their roost, 

 the starlings leave the broads and seek more sheltered 

 quarters in the big woods, or ivied walls and shrubs 

 of our houses and gardens. That these immense flocks 

 are not altogether composed of our resident birds, is 

 evident from their being more frequently picked up at 

 the foot of our lighthouses than almost any other of 



