i6 LETTERS TO MARCO in 



on the meadows, they cover a considerable 

 patch of ground. The whole troop shifts along 

 gradually against the wind ; this shifting is 

 done on the principle by which a boy takes a 

 halfpenny from between two other halfpennies 

 without touching it, the rearmost birds con- 

 tinually rising and flying over the heads of 

 the others and settling in the front. Occa- 

 sionally the whole flock rises and shifts in a 

 mass. I have never been able to determine 

 what it is they feed on : worms, no doubt, if 

 they come across them, but the incessant 

 picking -up motions must be occasioned by 

 something far more numerous than worms. 

 As you know, I never use a gun to help me 

 in my observations of birds, and so have not 

 examined their crops, but I have carefully 

 searched the grass on our lawn after the 

 starlings have been feeding on it, and beyond 

 noticing the little holes made by the birds' 

 beaks, have found nothing to indicate what 

 the food might be. Most people must have 

 remarked the way starlings feed along with 



