BIRDS IN CORNISH VILLAGE 291 



might say after witnessing and listening to this 

 evening performance that they have great joy in 

 their rascally lives. 



But for the poor starling there is little joy in 

 these brief, dark, wet winter days, even if there 

 is little frost in this West Cornwall climate. A 

 frost of a few days' duration would be fatal to 

 incalculable numbers, especially if, as in the great 

 frosts of the winters of 1894-5 and 1896-7, 

 severest in the south and west of England, it 

 should come late in winter, I think it can be taken 

 as a fact that a long or overseas migration takes 

 place before midwinter or not at all. In January 

 and February, when birds are driven to the limits 

 of the land by a great cold they do not cross the 

 sea, either because they are too weak to attempt 

 such an adventure or for some other reason un- 

 known to us. We see that on these occasions 

 they come to the seashore and follow it south 

 and west even to the western extremity of Corn- 

 wall, and then either turn back inland or wait 

 where they are for open weather, many perishing 

 in the meantime. 



During those three winter months, when I 

 watched the starlings at work on the field before 



