BIRDS IN A VILLAGE gi 



after three days it all at once struck me that no 

 fowl could lay an egg about every ten or twelve 

 minutes, and go on at this rate day after day, 

 and, getting up, I went out to look for the 

 cackler. A few hens were moving quietly about 

 the open ground surrounding the cottage where 

 the sound came from, but I heard nothing. By 

 and by, when I was back in my room, the cackling 

 sounded again, but when I got out the sound had 

 ceased and the fowls, as before, appeared quite 

 unexcited. The only way to solve the mystery 

 was to stand there, out of doors, for ten minutes, 

 and before that time was over a starling with a 

 white grub in his beak, flew down and perched 

 on the low garden wall of the cottage, then, with 

 some difficulty, squeezed himself through a small 

 opening into a cavity under a strip of zinc which 

 covered the bricks of the wall. It was a queer 

 place for a starling's nest, on a wall three feet 

 high and within two yards of the cottage door 

 which stood open all day. Having delivered the 

 grub, the starling came out again and, hopping on 

 to the zinc, opened his beak and cackled like a 

 hen, then flew away for more grubs. 



I observed the starling a good deal after this, 



