194 THE STARLING, OR STARE. 



rookeries remain, where once they were considered 

 as a necessary appendage, and regularly pointed 

 out the abbey, the hall, the court-house, and the 

 grange. 



The starling (sturnus vulgaris) breeds with us, 

 as in most villages in England. Towards autumn 

 the broods unite, and form large flocks ; but those 

 prodigious flights with which, in some particular 

 years, we are visited, especially in parts of those 

 districts formerly called the " fen counties, 1 ' are 

 probably an accumulation from foreign countries. 

 We have seldom more than a pair, or two, which 

 nestle under the tiling of an old house, in the 

 tower of the church, the deserted hole of the wood- 

 pecker, or some such inaccessible place. The flights 

 probably migrate to this country alone, as few 

 birds could travel long, and continue such a rapid 

 motion as the starling. The Royston crow, the 

 only migrating bird with which it forms an intimate 

 association, is infinitely too heavy of wing to have 

 journeyed with the stare. The delight of these 

 birds in society is a predominant character ; and to 

 feed, they will associate with the rook, the pigeon, 

 or the daw ; and sometimes, but not cordially, 

 with the fieldfare: but they chiefly roost with 

 their own families, preferring some reedy, marshy 

 situation. These social birds are rarely seen alone ; 

 and should any accident separate an individual 

 from the companions of its flight, it will sit dis- 

 consolate on an eminence, piping and plaining, 

 till some one of its congeners join it. Even in 



