156 WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



leave the place later on and congregate in flocks roost- 

 ing in trees, still come back now and then to revisit 

 their homes, especially as the new year opens, when 

 they alight on the house frequently and consult on 

 the approaching important period of nesting. If you 

 should be sitting near a window close under the roof 

 where they are busy, reading a book, with the summer 

 sunshine streaming in, now and then a flash like light- 

 ning will pass across the page. It is a starling rapidly 

 vibrating his wings before he perches on the thatch ; 

 the swift succession of light and shadow as the wings 

 intercept the rays of the sun causes an impression on 

 the eye like that left by a flash of lightning. They 

 are beautiful birds ; on their plumage, when seen 

 quite close, the light plays in iridescent gleams. 



Upon the roof of the old farmstead, too, the chirp 

 of the sparrow never ceases the livelong day. It is 

 amusing to see these birds in the nesting season carry- 

 ing up long straws towing their burden through the 

 air with evident labour or feathers. These they 

 sometimes drop just as they arrive at their destination. 

 Eager to utter a chirp to their mates, they open their 

 beaks, and away floats the feather, but they catch it 

 again before it reaches the ground. Fluffy feathers 

 are great favourites. The fowls, as they fly up to 

 roost on the beams in the sheds, beat out feathers 

 from their clumsy wings ; these lie scattered on the 

 ground, marking the spot. These roosting-places are 

 magazines from which the small birds draw their sup- 

 plies for domestic purposes. The sparrows have their 



