132 OUR BIRD ALLIES. 
roots of the vegetation, and thus causes the death of the 
plants ; and so exceedingly mischievous is it that, in 
cases of bad attack, one can roll up the turf just as 
though it had been carefully cut with the proper tools. 
In some strange way—probably by means of its keen 
sense of hearing—the starling detects the presence of 
the grub in the ground, and promptly unearths it with 
a stroke or two of its powerful beak. During the early 
morning starlings may be seen thus employed upon 
almost any grassy piece of ground, every dig of their 
beaks being the knell of one of these grubs, or of 
some almost equally destructive creature which was 
busily at work upon the root, and so attacking the 
plants at their most vulnerable part. 
Starlings are also very fond, like the magpie, of the 
various parasites which torment cattle so greatly, and 
may often be seen perched upon the,back of a sheep, 
and industriously searching its fleece, very much as a 
monkey examines the coat of a companion. Another 
custom, too, is to follow the animals as they walk 
along, in order to snap up the insects disturbed by 
their feet. 
In some parts of the country starlings are exceed- 
ingly numerous, and the consequent gain to agri- 
culture is proportionately great. Near Chelmsford 
is a small wood famous for the immense number of 
these birds which tenant it during the winter nights, 
arriving from all quarters, and roosting upon the 
branches almost in masses. Concerning this wood 
Mr. Prior-Johnson, of Great Baddow,"writes to me as 
follows :— 
