STARLINGS 447 



alliances. The same feeding-grounds that sustained 

 many pairs of birds have now to find provender for as 

 many families, and it is not long before the tribes of 

 the farm-house, or of the orchard, or of the stone 

 quarry, or the willows by the brook coalesces into a 

 good whirling crowd. It is an encouraging sight to see 

 them working a field, the bright bodies of the older birds 

 glancing bravely in the sun as they walk wadingly 

 through the grass. There cannot be much above 

 ground or in the first inch of earth that can escape 

 them. But to-morrow it will be the turn of other 

 grubs to be at the surface, and the field must be gone 

 over again by these indefatigable agriculturists. We 

 have followed them over the pastures, and have 

 found thousands of little holes drilled where they have 

 picked out wire-worm or some other dainty. The 

 farmer has not a better harrow than a good flock of 

 " blacksteer." 



In August the starlings begin coming in large num- 

 bers to our wood for roost. At that time they come 

 in little bands from opposite points of the compass, 

 and at daybreak, 'after a whistled chorus, each band 

 goes back to its own work. But as autumn advances 

 the army keeps together day and night. Since hunt- 

 ing in bands is profitable, it seems that big bands 

 are more profitable than small ones. The niggardli- 

 ness of winter demands that the "far-flung battle 

 line " should be very wide indeed. There is much 

 to be learnt by patient observation as to how the 

 flock takes advantage of the discovery of its units. 

 There is never any apparent gathering towards a 

 point where a rich vein has been struck. Possibly the 

 advantage of going in a large band is that the birds 



