THE STARLING IN AUTUMN 267 



the backs of sheep and cattle in search of food. 

 Two or three of them may often be seen at one 

 time on the back of a cow searching" the hide with 

 great care from head to tail, and picking 

 up many trifles of insect -life which the cow is 

 well pleased to part with. Sheep appear to pro- 

 vide even better fare, no doubt because they afford 

 better cover for game, and the starling goes about 

 the business of hunting with a thoroughness all 

 his own. He prefers sheep lying down, but if 

 the animal rises while the bird is still at work the 

 starling; does not fly away. He assumes a 

 balancing attitude, like a boy in a cart which has 

 begun to move, and then resumes operations when 

 the sheep comes to a standstill. 



Most birds mix up their feeding- and their play- 

 ing, and are at both nearly all day. Like the 

 human animal, the starling keeps the two functions 

 quite apart. He has his working hours and his 

 hours of recreation, and that is perhaps the reason 

 why, when he is at work, he makes such a serious 

 business of it. At present in his daily programme 

 work is intermitted for at least two hours every 

 afternoon, and these he devotes to improving con- 

 versation and music. One of these starling con- 

 versaziones is as worthy of study as any function 

 of bird -life. The birds seem to talk and to take 

 great pleasure in one another's company. I have 

 been watching one such gathering in a half-bare 

 pear-tree, and without the aid of a glass it is 

 possible to see that the feathers of the throat of 

 every bird are in motion. With a glass one sees 

 that the birds are going through all the motions 



