COMMON STARLING. 47 



alighting in myriads upon this flexible plant, they crush it 

 to the water's surface, and large patches are seen lodged 

 and beaten down like grain after a storm. 



I am indebted to the kindness of Dr. Goodenough, 

 Dean of Wells, for the following account of an extra- 

 ordinary haunt of Starlings on the estate of W. Miles, 

 Esq., at King's Weston : " This locality is an evergreen 

 plantation of Arbutus, Laurustinus, &c., covering some 

 acres, to which these birds repair in an evening I was 

 going to say, and I believe I might with truth say by 

 millions, from the low grounds about the Severn, where 

 their noise and stench are something altogether unusual. 

 By packing in such myriads upon the evergreens, they 

 have stripped them of their leaves, except just at the tops, 

 and have driven the Pheasants, for whom the plantation 

 was intended, quite away from the ground. In the day- 

 time, when the birds were not there, the stench is still 

 excessive. Mr. Miles was about to cut the whole planta- 

 tion down to get rid of them, two years ago, but I 

 begged him not to do so on account of the curiosity of 

 the scene, and he has since been well pleased that he 

 abstained." 



Another instance of a similar character was communi- 

 cated to me in March, 1845, by Robert Ball, Esq., of 

 Dublin, and has also appeared in print. " In the mass of 

 thorn trees at the upper end of the Zoological Garden in 

 the Phoenix Park sleep every night, from the end of 

 October to about the end of March, from one hundred 

 and fifty thousand to two hundred thousand Starlings. 

 This enormous number may appear an exaggeration, yet 

 it is the estimate of many observations. When these 

 Starlings were first observed, they were estimated at from 

 fifteen thousand to twenty thousand : but during three 

 years they seem to have increased tenfold." 



