238 STIIRNID^. 



more to mount aloft and circle as before. These perform- 

 ances are varied also by the flock becoming momentarily 

 invisible or partly so, through the birds as they wheel turn- 

 ing their wings edgeways to the spectator's eye, and then, 

 on a calm day, the noise caused by the sudden change of 

 direction will reach his ear from the distance like the rum- 

 bling sound of a heavy carriage on a hard road. Few things 

 of the kind are more entertaining than to watch a flock of 

 Starlings as they rise with the Rooks, Daws or Lapwings 

 in whose company they may be. "While the Lapwings 

 slowly marshal themselves into their accustomed forma- 

 tion, or the Rooks and Daws, with not much more speed, 

 betake themselves skyward after some uncertain beating of 

 the air, the organization of the Starlings seems to be perfect 

 from the moment they leave the ground, and they shoot 

 ahead of and across the flight of the larger birds ; or, wheel- 

 ing round, pass through the comparatively unformed ranks 

 without the slightest disturbance of their own array — now 

 on this side, now on that — and, returning, should the alarm 

 prove needless, perhaps to the spot whence they had risen, 

 resume feeding as busily as ever, long before their incon- 

 gruous associates have been able to judge of the probable 

 danger and to act in accordance with their sagacit3\ 



In winter comparatively few Starlings are left in most 

 parts of the interior of England. Even about midsummer, 

 as has already been stated, some begin to cross the sea, and 

 it would seem to be the ordinary habit of this species to 

 move westward as autumn approaches. The regularity of 

 its appearance at that season in Wales, Cornwall and 

 Ireland was observed long ago, before it had become, as it 

 now is, more plentiful as a resident in those parts ; but 

 even at the present day the influx of large flocks from the 

 eastward is very evident. In like manner, as the experience 

 of oar lighthouse-keepers tells us,* we receive great addi- 

 tions from the Continent in the fall of the year. Most of 

 the strangers, no doubt, pass on, but many tarry for a time 



* Excepting perhaps Skylarks, no birds are more frequently attracted to the 

 lanterns than Starlings. 



