90 Birds of an Oxford College 



the glossy starlings that nest in larger holes and 

 crevices about the quadrangle appear seldom 

 oblivious of observation. When their nests are 

 built in April, the starlings pace anxiously along 

 the water-pipes, or stand on the ridge of a gable 

 writhing their bristled and sinuous necks before 

 slipping into their chosen crannies with the grass- 

 tufts or long straws which they collect outside the 

 walls. Only in the quiet of the early morning they 

 lay aside their ineffective caution, and sometimes 

 fly directly to the nest. Even greater wariness is 

 shown when they are feeding their young in May. 

 Hundreds of times a day they return to one or other 

 of their points of vantage at a little distance from 

 the nest, with a morsel in their bills, till they dart 

 at last to their hole, and fly straight away a moment 

 later, with the low note which they utter on launch- 

 ing into the air. When the cock bird mounts to 

 some pinnacle on March or April mornings to pour 

 out his curious medley of a song, he abandons himself 

 discreetly to his rapture, and turns an eye on the 

 posture of the world about him before every fit of 

 expression. 



So many imitative fragments occur in most of 

 the starling's chattering monologues, that it is often 

 hard to distinguish between the bird's own song- 

 notes and those which it has picked up from its 

 neighbours. In the course of their musical recita- 

 tions these starlings will at times break out into 

 unexpected reminiscences of other times and places 

 secrets of the green Hinksey solitudes, where they 

 go to gather food in the depths of the springing hay. 



