156 BRITISH BIRDS 



of this variety of language he has always been reputed a mimic ; 

 but he does not mock as the mocking-bird does : he never repro- 

 duces the song of any other songster. Notes and phrases, and 

 calls and alarm-notes, he has apparently picked up, and, listening, 

 you recognise this or that species ; but the imitations are seldom 

 perfect, and in the end you are almost inclined to believe that he 

 is called a mimic only because his variety is so great. 



After the breeding season the young and old birds feed together 

 in the pastures, where they unite with other families ; and the 

 flocks thus formed, as they increase in size, extend their wander- 

 ings over the surrounding country. Like rooks, they have favourite 

 roosting-places, to which they return annually ; these are reed and 

 osier beds, thickets of holly and other evergreens, and fir-planta- 

 tions. But they are not so constant in their attachment to one 

 locality as the rook. They are more vagrant in their habits, and 

 shift their ground, and migrate, and their numbers may vary 

 greatly from year to year in the same district. In a district 

 where they are abundant, they are seen at the end of each day 

 gathering from all directions to the roosting-place ; and it is then 

 that the * cloud of starlings ' may be seen at its best, and it is 

 certainly one of the finest sights that bird life presents in England. 

 At intervals, after the birds have been steadily pouring in their 

 flocks for a couple of hours, the whole vast concourse rises, and, 

 seen from a distance, the flock, composed of tens and hundreds of 

 thousands, may then be easily mistaken for a long black cloud sus- 

 pended above the wood. In a few moments it is seen to grow 

 thin, as the flock scatters, until it almost fades away. Suddenly it 

 darkens again ; and so on, alternately, the form, too, changing 

 continually, now extending to an immense length across the sky, 

 like a long bar of vapour, and now gathered into a huge oval or 

 oblong black mass ; and by-and-by the cloud again empties itself 

 into the trees, and the sky is clear once more. These evolutions 

 are repeated many times, until, as the evening draws on, the birds 

 finally settle down in their places, but not to sleep ; for an hour 

 longer the wood is filled with an indescribable noise a tangle of 

 ten thousand penetrative voices, all together whistling, chattering, 

 scolding, and singing. 



We have but one starling ; an allied species, the beautiful rose- 

 coloured pastor (Pastor roseus], which breeds in Western Asia, is an 

 irregular visitor to all parts of England. 



