Mr. W. Thompson on the Birds of Ireland. 413 



Starling, Sturnus vulgaris, Linn. — Montagu remarks of 

 this species, that " many stay with us the whole year ; but 

 the vast flocks that are seen in severe winters probably mi- 

 grate to this country [England] in search of food, and return 

 northward in the spring. We have obsen-ed continued flights 

 of these birds going westward into Devonshire and Cornwall 

 in hard weather, and their return eastward as soon as the frost 

 breaks up." Mr. Knapp observes that — " 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,' are probably an accumulation from other coun- 

 tries." The Bishop of Norwich, in his ' Familiar History of 

 Birds,' gives as his opinion, " that they are partially migra- 

 toiy, quitting one part of the kingdom for another ;" and Sir 

 Wm. Jardine states, that " in many parts of Scotland where 

 they do not breed, they are migratory, appearing in autumn 

 and spring." 



In that portion of the north of Ireland with which I am best 

 acquainted, there is nothing irregular in the migration of star- 

 lings ; they await not any severity of weather ; and although 

 they may occasionally change their quarters when within the 

 island, yet do they of all our birds present the clearest evi- 

 dence of migration, as annually they are observed for several 

 weeks to pour into Ireland fi'om the north, and wing their way 

 southward*. To myself they have frequently so appeared, 

 but I prefer giving the more full and satisfactory testimony of 

 trustworthy and intelligent " shore-shooters," three of whom 

 being consulted, agree upon the subject. They state that 

 the general autumnal migration of stares or stars f (as they 

 are sometimes called) commences towards the middle or end 

 of September, according to the season, and continues daily 

 for about six or eight weeks J. When the weather is moderate, 



of tliis species which escaped from its cage at Cromac, tlie residence of Mr. 

 Garrett, near Belfast, yesterday moniing flew away and was not seen again 

 until this morning, when it appeared at an early hour, and made known its 

 presence by tapping at one of the windows with its bill before any of the in- 

 mates were up. On a cage being presented, the bird eagerly flew into it. 



• It is now man}' years since Mr. Templeton, in his valuable ' Naturalists' 

 Report' (published in the Belfast Magazine), called attention to the regular 

 migration of starlings into Ireland. 



f Similar abbreviations are in common use among the dealers in birds 

 (whether living or dead) in the north of Ireland ; thus, in gray-linnet, chaf- 

 finch, green-linnet, &c. an economy of words is practised, atid the first syl- 

 lable alone is sufficient to indicate the species. In the same manner I have 

 in Perthshire heard the hooded or gray-crow called simply huddy. 



\ So early as the middle of July, a flock was once observed flying south- 



