No. 4.] REPORT OF STATE ORNITHOLOGIST. 177 



Upon the first Encounter they withdrew themselves backward, 

 East and West, and with like Eagerness and Fury encountered 

 several Times; upon which all these Stares fell down, in like strange 

 and admirable Manner, as upon the first Encounter. They con- 

 tinued this admirable and most violent Battel till a little before 

 Night, at which time they seemed to vanish, so that all Sunday, 

 the 13th of Octobei', none appeared about the City. 



Upon this Sunday divers passengers came out of Suffolk, who 

 sailing betwixt Gravesend and Woolwich, they heai^d a loud and 

 strange noise and Sound in the Air, whereupon casting their Eyes 

 upward, they saw infinite Multitudes of Stares fighting in all 

 violent Manner together, with a Crow or Raven flying betwixt them, 

 for the Flight being so high, they could not perfectly discern 

 whether it was Crow or Raven. These Birds had also several 

 Encounters, making strange Sound and Noise; and ever as they 

 divded and retired themselves, the Crow or Raven was seen in the 

 Midst: But what Slaughter was made they could not observe, be- 

 cause the Evening was somewhat dark, and the Battel was fought 

 over Woods more remote off; but for more assured Proof of this 

 Fight the Sunday before-named, there are, at this Time, in London, 

 diverse Persons of Worth and very honest Reputation, whom the 

 Printer of this Pamphlet can produce, to justify what they saw, 

 at Cause shall require, upon their Oaths. 



Now to return to the last Battel fought, at Cork, by these Stares 



Upon Monday, the 14th of October, they made their Return again, 

 and, at the same time, the Day bring as fair a Sun-shine Day as 

 it was the Saturday before, they mounted into the Air, and en- 

 countered each other with like violent Assaults, as formei'ly they 

 had done, and fell into the City upon the Houses, and into the 

 River, wounded and slaughtei-ed in like Manner as before is re- 

 ported : But at this last Battel there was a Kite, a Raven and 

 a Crow, all three found dead in the Streets rent, torn and 

 mangled. 



In this precedent Narration, one Report will cause most admira- 

 tion, and that is, the Stares or Starlings, forbearing and absenting 

 themselves from Cork, upon Sunday, being the 13th of October, 

 should that same Day be seen to fight near, or not far off from 

 Woolwich; whether the same Stares it may be held in respect of 

 the Distance of the Place by Sea and Land, improbable. But this 

 Improbability is soon answered ; for as the Fight at Cork may seem 

 strange and improbable, yet being most assured that such a Battel 

 was fought, it may be as probable, in the Wonderful Works of Al- 

 mighty God, that, notwithstanding the Distance of the Place, these 

 may be the same Stares.^ 



' Morgan, J.: "Phoenix Britannieus", a miscellaneous collection of scarce and curious 

 tracts. No. 1, pp. 250-253, London, 1731. 



