In Farm and Garden. 163 



the birds did not succeed in raising a brood. Every 

 summer the Starlings of the entire district gathered 

 into one or two large flocks, and these came evening 

 by evening to roost in a cluster of whitethorns until 

 the late autumn, when they changed their quarters 

 to the evergreens close by. Another thing that 

 endears the Starling to us is its perennial song. 

 Few other song-birds make so much fuss over their 

 music as the Starling. Action of some kind seems 

 always essential to vocal effort; and the way he 

 erects almost every feather, or sways about or stands 

 in some grotesque attitude, during his periods of 

 song is most entertaining. The House Sparrow is 

 another familiar bird of the farm and garden. Un- 

 fortunately he is far too common for most farmers, 

 especially in the vicinity of large towns and villages; 

 and the way these pilfering birds will thresh out 

 a field of wheat or oats is literally surprising. 

 Friends of the Sparrow, usually utterly ignorant of 

 its habits and the serious mischief it can do, cannot 

 understand the farmers' indignation, and are always 

 protesting against its wanton slaughter. But then 

 there is reason in all things, and in grain-growing 

 districts the bird should be kept down. The boy 

 with his clappers amongst the corn may, if he con- 

 scientiously sticks to his work (and this rarely hap- 

 pens), keep the vast flocks of Sparrows on the move, 

 but the birds will gorge themselves with grain mean- 



