STARLINGS. 147 



figures, as if animated by a common impulse, or 

 obeying a definite word of command. They will 

 form themselves into a triangular body, so com- 

 pact as not to permit the sky to be seen between 

 them, then shoot into a long pear-shaped figure, 

 expand like a sheet, wheel into a ball, as Pliny 

 long ago observed, each individual apparently 

 striving to get into the centre, with a promptitude 

 more like that of an army under review than the 

 actions of birds. At length, after many feints to 

 alight and resumptions of the aerial manoeuvres, 

 the whole army descends upon the reeds with 

 much clamour, which is kept up for some time 

 after they have taken their places for the night. 



Of these peculiarities in the economy of this 

 bird, Mr. Yarrell has furnished some interesting 

 illustrations. " I am indebted," observes this emi- 

 nent zoologist, "to the kindness. of the late Dr. 

 Goodenough, Dean of Wells, for the following 

 account of an extraordinary haunt of Starlings 

 on the estate of W. Miles, Esq., at King's Wes- 

 ton : ' 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 alto- 

 gether 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 in- 

 tended, quite away from the ground. In the day- 

 time, when the birds are not there, the stench is 

 still excessive. Mr. Miles was about to cut the 

 whole plantation down to get rid of them, two 



