38 THE BIRDS OF BERKS AND BUCKS. 



remarkable specimen was shot at Colnbrook in 

 1865. It was fawn-coloured, with a little brown 

 upon the head. I saw it at Mr. Ferryman's house 

 in Datchet. In i860, a man named Skinner killed 

 a white Bullfinch near White Waltham, and took 

 it to Windsor, where it was preserved. 



Family — SturniDyE. 



Common Starling {Stumus vulgaris). Local 

 names. Stare, Starling. A very plentiful species, and 

 resident all the year. It is an interesting sight to 

 see a large flock of these birds performing their 

 remarkable evolutions in early spring, and to witness 

 the wonderful precision with which they turn, and 

 twist, and wheel, first in this direction, then in that, 

 now towering so as to resemble a spiral column, now 

 lowering themselves, and again looking like a black 

 sheet. These amusing and complicated manoeuvres 

 may be witnessed by anyone who will take a stroll 

 through Queen Anne's Drive, in Windsor Park, to- 

 wards the end of February, or early in March. 



This species is not unfrequently subject to variety. 

 A Starling with seven white tail feathers was killed 

 near Eton, in 1865, and is now in the collection of 

 Mr. Drye. Another variety of this bird, a male of 

 a pure cream colour, was shot in a field near Spital, 

 by David Hall, towards the latter end of October 

 1864. 



