42 DOWN NIGHTINGALE: VALLEY 
rapid runs, together with his untiring activity 
during nesting time in taking food up to his 
young, you would certainly say that he was 
areal disciple of the “strenuous Ife.’ “Bue 
yet he never seeins to tire, and always is 
happiness itself, whether at work or play. 
The starling is a very hardy bird. He has a 
thick skin and shot-resisting feathers. His 
flesh, however, is tough and bitter, and his 
food not of the cleanest kind. On these 
accounts he is seldom killed to be eaten, being 
more lucky in this respect than his neigh- 
bours, the sparrow, blackbird and thrush. 
So ended our pleasant, and I think succes3- 
ful, visit to Nightingale Valley. 
