76 MEMORIES 



pew, and the round bald patch on the back of 

 his head offered a mark few boys could long 

 resist. 



And then there were minor diversions. One 

 Sunday in each year we knew as " Starling Sunday." 

 It was a movable feast, but usually fell about 

 Whitsuntide. 



It was that first Sunday in the year on which the 

 young starlings were to be heard chirruping under the 

 eaves. Every few minutes the arrival of an old bird 

 with a grub was hailed with a chorus of clamour. 



,/^ Sometimes a bat — "flittermice " the people call them 



— would wheel up and down and round and round 

 till the eye was giddy with watching. And then a 

 robin or a swallow would become imprisoned, and in 



^A " early spring the hybernated tortoiseshell butterflies 



would flutter up and down the royal arms in the east 



^c,ci window. Our most constant visitor was a little toad, 

 who lived beneath the stone step of the side door. 

 He used to come out when the stones got very hot, 

 and sit winking a thin film over his red eyes, medi- 

 tative and composed. 



Every few years some of the shingles used to slip 

 down from off the spire, and then " Steeple Jack " 

 was sent for. He only asked a good stout rope, and 





