102 THE BOOK OF MIGRATORY BIRDS 



feeding-grounds and go straight for a given mark. They 

 frequently linger en route, repeatedly coming to ground 

 in the fields, as if loth to leave the greensward ; and one 

 cannot wonder if they hesitate about turning in, because 

 on doing so they must go without food for twelve hours 

 or more, a rather long fast for birds which during the day 

 seem to be always eating. 



However, when Fenham becomes their objective, the 

 starlings fly thither straight and fast, as is their wont. 

 Up they come, flock after flock, the birds dispersing among 

 the highest branches of towering elm and beech until the 

 trees are simply alive with a feathered multitude. Mean- 

 time, as each fresh battalion arrives, there is kept up an 

 incessant chatter that may be heard a consideraBIe distance 

 away. What it is all about nobody can tell. This collec- 

 tive vocal effort is far from entertaining, and it has no 

 resemblance to the so-called song with which the starling 

 favours us from the smoky recesses of the familiar 

 chimney-pot. In part it may be the outcome of squabbling 

 for places, but even that does not fully explain the noisy 

 demonstration, as the birds may be seen flapping their 

 wings and whistling when there is no sign of temper. 



As a rule, this remarkable gathering of bird forces 

 takes place on a particular range of trees which are in a 

 fairly direct line with the roosting-place. One or two of 

 the trees are decayed, and the birds gather on the leafless 

 branches, looking at a distance like so many dots on 

 irregular lines. Some of them remain in the chosen 

 position perhaps for half an hour; others move about 

 from tree to tree, and occasionally solitary couples will 

 detach themselves from the assembly and make off as if 

 tired of waiting for the general departure. Occasionally 

 the birds perch temporarily among the trees at Ravenside 

 or just beyond. One night hundreds of the birds were 

 heard holding disorderly converse at the edge of dark in 

 the trees, the mist at the time being so thick that it was 

 impossible to see across the road. Presently the talk 

 ceased and there was a dull whirr of many wings, a sign 



