196 Wild Life in Wales 



a still more pronounced aroma behind them ; but when 

 Starlings have seriously taken to roosting in a covert, the 

 pollution becomes so bad that nothing else will remain in it. 

 It is no exaggeration to say that I have seen the ground 

 beneath the trees, in which a flock of Starlings had estab- 

 lished themselves, covered an inch or more deep with their 

 droppings, while the flat branches of the spruces in which 

 they roosted carried a corresponding load of filth. When 

 a crowd like this takes possession of a game covert, much of 

 the undergrowth is often killed outright, and it becomes a 

 very serious business for the keeper, as no amount of shoot- 

 ing will drive them away, nor has it any appreciable effect 

 in reducing their numbers. They return again and again to 

 the same spot, until its condition has become so unsanitary 

 as to be unbearable even for a Starling, and then often only 

 betake themselves to another part of the wood to repeat the 

 offence. One consequence of such an occupation of a wood 

 is sometimes seen, a year or two later, in a thick crop of 

 young elders springing up from the seeds that the Starlings 

 have discarded ; a legacy often regarded as a curse second 

 only to the visitation of the birds, for, as underwood, the 

 elder is almost valueless. 



Laurels, rhododendrons, and other shrubs, are frequently 

 much broken and disfigured by the disorderly crowding of 

 Starlings roosting upon them. When the flock first alight, 

 their droppings descend like a shower of rain, the continual 

 pitter-patter on the leaves below being almost sufficient to 

 deaden the twittering on the tree-tops above. One result 

 of this mulching of the soil is to stimulate the growth of 

 Holcus mollis and some of the coarser grasses. Its effect 

 upon other herbage has perhaps scarcely received the atten- 

 tion it deserves. 



The ceaseless activity of the Starling might very well 

 justify its being included with the ant, and the bee, as an 

 example of industry. It is never idle. Whether running 

 over the grass in search of food, or twittering from the 

 house-top, it seems always to appreciate the value of time, 

 and to be determined not to lose a moment. Against such 

 a bird, so attractive in its habits, so engaging from the con- 



