126 Wild Life in a Southern County 



CHAPTER VIII. 



UIRDS OP THE FARMHOUSE SPEECH OP A STARLING POPULATION OF 

 A GABLE THE KING OF THE HEDGE THE THRUSHES' ANVIL. 



WICK farmhouse is thatched, and has many gables hidden 

 with ivy. In these broad expanses of thatch, on the great 

 ' chimney-tuns,' as country folk call them, and in the ivy, 

 tribes of birds have taken up their residence. The thatch 

 has grown so thick in the course of years by the addition 

 of fresh coats that it projects far from the walls and forms 

 wide, far-reaching eaves. Over the cellar the roof descends 

 within three or four feet of the ground, the wall being low, 

 and the eaves here cast a shadow with the sun nearly at 

 the zenith. 



On the higher parts of the roof, especially round the 

 chimneys, the starlings have made their holes, and in the 

 early summer are continuously flying to and fro their 

 young, who never cease crying for food the whole day 

 through. A tall ash tree stands in the hedgerow, about 

 fifty yards from the house. On this tree, which is detached, 

 so that they can see all round, the starlings perch before 

 they come to the roof, as if to reconnoitre, and to exchange 

 pourparlers with their friends already on the roof; for if 

 ever birds talk together starlings do. Many birds utter 

 the same notes over and over again ; others sit on a branch 

 and sing the same song, as the thrush ; but the starling 

 has a whole syllabary of his own, every note of which 



