234 STARLINGS. 



Having thus given some report of our Starlings for 

 the greater part of the year, we will endeavour to follow 

 the main body for the remaining months, as yet unac- 

 counted for. To do this effectually would be no easy 

 matter, as we believe, that they are partially migratory, 

 i. e., quitting one part of the kingdom for another, more 

 fitted for their usual mode of life; nevertheless, enough 

 remain within the sphere of our observation, and are to 

 be met with in little flocks during the Summer in 

 favourite meadows, where food is plentiful, associating 

 with their old friends, the Crows, Rooks, and Jackdaws. 



As Winter approaches, however, they follow the 

 example of some other birds, such as Larks, Buntings, 

 &c., and congregate in larger quantities. Not far from 

 the church we have mentioned, there is a considerable 

 sheet of water, occupying nearly thirty acres ; flanked 

 and feathered on the eastern side by the old beech-wood, 

 already spoken of as the abiding place of the Jackdaws. 

 Its western margin is bounded by an artificial dam, 

 which, as the water is upon a much higher level, com- 

 mands an extensive view over a flat, rich country, the 

 horizon terminated by the faint outline of the first 

 range of Welsh mountains. This dam, on the finer 

 evenings of November, was once the favourite resort of 

 many persons, who found an additional attraction in 

 watching the gradual assemblage of the Starlings. About 

 an hour before sunset little flocks, by twenties or fifties, 

 kept gradually dropping in, their numbers increasing as 

 daylight waned, till one vast flight was formed, amount- 

 ing to thousands, and at times we might almost say to 

 millions. Nothing could be more interesting or beau- 

 tiful than to witness their graceful evolutions. 



At first they might be seen advancing high in the air y 

 like a dark cloud, which in an instant, as if by magic^ 

 became almost invisible, the whole body by some myste- 

 rious watchword or signal changing their course, and 

 presenting their wings to view edgeways, instead of ex- 

 posing, as before, their full expanded spread. Again, in 



