THE STARLING 111 



Though there is no proof that a distinct Continental subspecies 

 visits us, it is true that extraordinary numbers of starlings, com- 

 ing in part from Northern and in part from Central Europe, pour 

 into our Isles during October and November, many staying with us 

 during the winter, others passing on into South-western Europe. They 

 come in thousands, and in hundreds of thousands. On the night of 

 Oct. 12-13, 1910, one flock streamed past the Eddystone Lighthouse 

 continuously for ten and a half hours. Sixty-seven perished at the 

 lantern, and, after striking, uncounted numbers disappeared into the 

 sea. 1 Again, on Nov. 4, 1881, an enormous host, estimated at a million 

 birds, came oft' the sea at Redcar. It extended in a dense mass for 

 over two miles, and passed westward, darkening the sky, the whizzing 

 of its myriad wings sounding like the rumbling of thunder. These 

 great movements, which have been fully detailed in the " Classified 

 Notes," may be partially resumed at any time during the winter under 

 pressure of severe weather. 2 Numbers of starlings then resort to the 

 sea-coast to feed on small mussels, and anything else they can find. 

 Numbers, again, migrate in masses to the south and west of England, 

 some crossing the Channel into France, or to the sheltered corners of 

 Ireland. " All day long, through the falling snow, the race for life has 

 been watched streaming towards Kerry, whose peninsulas and islands 

 enjoy that freedom from frost which makes them the last resort of 

 refugees." But the small black countless forms speeding wearily on 

 through the whirling white flakes, so soft and yet so fatal, do not always 

 win to safety. Where the snow lies heavy, locking up the land, thou- 

 sands may be found starved to death, heaped in loads beneath some 

 fence, or choking the holes of rabbit-warrens, into which they had 

 crept for warmth and shelter. 4 



Starlings are not gregarious only as migrants, but at all times, be- 

 tween the breeding seasons, they may be seen in flocks, small or great, 

 almost everywhere, in the open spaces of our towns, in the country, 



1 British Association Report, 1903, p. 295. 2 Nelson, Birds of Yorkshire, i. p. 217. 



3 Ussher and Warren, Birds of Ireland, p. 79. 



4 Ibid., D'Urbau and Matthew, Birds of Devonshire. 



