JULY. 115 



irregular hordes of sparrows, these disciplined hosts 

 of starlings are mainly composed of the first broods 

 of the year. Their parents are still engaged with 

 later broods, and the earlier families shift for them- 

 selves. So, with the instinct which characterizes the 

 young of almost all species boys and girls not 

 excepted when removed from parental control, they 

 gather into crowds together, and are as noisy as 

 possible all the time. If the truth were told, no 

 doubt the young starlings in their myriads are vastly 

 exhilarated by the rush and roar of their multitudinous 

 wings as they wheel and sweep like thunder-clouds in 

 the evening sky ; and even a mob of young sparrows 

 probably chuckle and chirp excitedly over the patter- 

 ing noise they make every time that they shower into 

 a hedge. 



NATURE'S FACTORY OF LIFE. 



From the starlings and the sparrows one may 

 learn something of the tremendous output of bird 

 life from Nature's workshops every year, though one 

 sees little of the work in progress. Like a great con- 

 tractor who makes his millions by putting out his 

 work to be done in pennyworths by women and 

 children in slums and hovels, Nature seldom makes 

 any show of her multitudinous activity by large 

 factories or extensive plant. Here and there we 

 see an untidy straw sticking out of a water-pipe, 

 and wherever there is a hole in a roof you may have 

 seen glossy starlings passing in and out with food ; 

 but you hardly realize what millions of young birds 



