THE FAERY YEAR 



the fresh water for the spawning season. Tortoise- 

 shell butterflies, small and large, and other members 

 of their family, are feeders ; so is the humming- 

 bird hawk-moth, which sometimes hibernates in its 

 winged state. 



A Study of Starlings 



Though my starlings do not build in earnest till 

 April is far spent, some of them now begin to choose 

 nesting sites. A starling, on a soft February day, 

 will carry up a straw to its quarters under the 

 eaves, casually drop it there, and forget all about 

 it. On such a day, in the sunshine, what a lovely 

 gloss and glow of jewel colour is on the starling's 

 dress ! Then his " subtle conversation" as a 

 forgotten bird poet, Hurdis, described it nicely 

 is delightful. 



The starling is one of our bird intimates. I 

 confess to a slight prejudice in the past against him. 

 Wild English birds, tamed and taught tricks, lose 

 caste. Like chained cockatoos and brassy parrots 

 that scream and swear, the taught starling is not the 

 real thing. Perhaps the bird need not be pitied, like 

 the caged skylark, for, taken in callow babyhood and 

 reared by hand, the starling with the split tongue 

 has never known the joys of the wild life. Sterne's 

 starling of the endless plaint " I can't get out, I 

 can't get out " need not move us ; for, to be so 

 unnatural a talker, it must have been a cagebird all 



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