146 PASSERES. STURNID.E. 



him. It must be owned that his acquirements 

 are very uncertain ; he forgets as fast as he learns, 

 or he mixes up the old and new in utter con- 

 fusion. . . o Not only are the young susceptible 

 of these instructions, the oldest even shew the 

 most astonishing docility." * 



In our own country the Starling appears to be 

 partially migratory ; large numbers, that during 

 the summer were spread over the kingdom, accu- 

 mulating in winter in the most southern counties, 

 as Devonshire and Cornwall ; returning thence as 

 soon as the frosty weather has broken up. Some, 

 however, even in the north, content themselves 

 with a removal to the sea side, where, even in the 

 hardest weather, they can find subsistence in the 

 marine worms and polypes, in obtaining which 

 they display much ingenuity. Insinuating its 

 sharp pointed beak under the rounded pebbles of 

 the beach, the Starling skilfully turns them over 

 with a sudden jerk, and immediately seizes and de- 

 vours whatever may have been sheltered beneath. 



At the breeding season these birds frequent old 

 ruined buildings, church-steeples, or even inha- 

 bited houses, hollow and decayed trees in lonely 

 woods, or rocky cliffs overhanging the sea. But 

 at other times they resort to low, marshy grounds, 

 covered with reeds or beds of osiers, among which 

 they roost nightly in incredible numbers. About 

 an hour before dark all the hosts that have been 

 feeding in the vicinity congregate into one vast 

 phalanx, which, before they retire to rest, per- 

 form the most complex and beautiful evolutions, 

 wheeling and sweeping in the air, separating and 

 uniting, forming the most regular and varied 



* Cage-birds (LoncL1838), p. 187. 



