8 STARLINGS. 



is upon a much higher level, commands an extensive 

 view over a flat rich country, the horizon terminated 

 by the faint outline of the first range of Welsh moun- 

 tains. This dam, on the finer evenings of Novem- 

 ber, was once the favourite resort of many persons, 

 who found an additional attraction in watching the 

 gradual assemblage of the Starlings. About an hour 

 before sun-set, little flocks, by twenties or fifties, 

 kept gradually dropping in, their numbers increasing 

 as daylight waned, till one vast flight was formed 

 amounting to thousands, and at times we might 

 almost say to millions. Nothing could be more 

 interesting or beautiful, than to witness their grace- 

 ful evolutions. 



At first they might be seen advancing high in the 

 air, like a dark cloud, which, in an instant, as if by 

 magic, became almost invisible, the whole body, by 

 some mysterious watchword, or signal, changing 

 their course, and presenting their wings to view 

 edgeways, instead of exposing, as before, their full 

 expanded spread. Again, in another moment, the 

 cloud might be seen descending in a graceful sweep, 

 so as almost to brush the earth as they glanced along. 

 Then once more they were seen spiring in wide cir- 

 cles on high; till at length, with one simultaneous 

 rush, down they glide, with a roaring noise of wing, 

 till the vast mass buried itself unseen, but not un- 

 heard, amidst a bed of reeds, projecting from the 

 bank adjacent to the wood. For no sooner were they 

 perched, than every throat seemed to open itself, 

 forming one incessant confusion of tongues. 



If nothing disturbed them, there they would most 

 likely remain: but if a stone was thrown, a shout 



