THROUGH THE YEAR 123 



Watching the western line more closely, I saw 

 that many of the birds, as they approached their 

 roosting trees, chased each other in the quick wanton 

 way common to various flocked birds in autumn 

 and winter. 



These London starlings I have seen go through 

 none of the regular starling drill we see in starlings 

 elsewhere ; they sport and wanton in the air in 

 an erratic way. The trees are alive with starlings ; 

 their extraordinary simmer can be heard at some 

 distance. Not a bird of all that host, it seems, is 

 silent for a minute. Birds in the mass near or at 

 their final-roosting spot are full of sound ; so are 

 detached birds that have not yet found their right 

 tree and perch. The note cannot be uttered or writ- 

 ten down. Heard in the mass it is not unpleasant ; 

 but when it comes from the detached starlings it is 

 almost bat-shrill. 



SUSSEX 



My diary of birds and their setting has been 

 written from many places ; from the Midlands, 

 sometimes from Cornwall, Yorkshire, Scotland, 

 Derbyshire, Kent, Surrey, and the Isle of Wight ; 

 and from the land of chalk hills and chalk streams. 

 It will often be written now, I expect, from Sussex. 

 Though not on the chalk, I see a great line of chalk 

 the grey Brighton downs sixteen or seventeen miles 

 away on the horizon to the west, with Chanctonbury 

 Ring just appearing through the far, faint mist. 

 This is a grand bit of England, too, I can well 



