BIRD NOTES 39 



their little ones. Night in the summer months is 

 made musical by the chattering Reed- Warbler, which 

 at intervals wakes up, to run over bar after bar of 

 its familiar little song ; and one has but to crackle 

 through the reed-margin with an oar, or fling into 

 their midst a bit of mud, to set bird after bird 

 warbling its ditty of astonishment. 



But to my mind the most interesting tenant of 

 these reed-beds is the Common Starling, who gathers 

 sometimes in large flocks, to spend in the more 

 sheltered and secluded stretches the summer and 

 autumn nights. Whilst one may be quietly sitting 

 in his boat fishing, or otherwise idling in the 

 Broadlands, one cannot fail to notice, as the after- 

 noon sun begins to lower, compact little bunches 

 of from ten to thirty Starlings passing overhead, 

 making for some familiar roosting-place, from all 

 directions, more especially from the marshlands. 

 Flock after flock drops down into the reed-beds, the 

 earlier arrivals noisily disputing possession with 

 those constantly coming in. The damage done to 

 the reeds was, in years gone by, deemed considerable, 

 for reed-harvesting was then profitable both to 

 owner and labourer; the latter of whom was even 

 tempted to give up other employment to take on 



