238 BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 



came before with its mate* The poor little thing had 

 only one leg, but managed to hop about and feed 

 very well ; this year the poor thing didn't turn up 

 with its mate, so we suppose it had met its death 

 somewhere during the summer/' 



I have often watched the gatherings of pied 

 wagtails (always with a certain number of the grey 

 species among them) in places where they spend the 

 winter in our southern counties, at some spot where 

 they are accustomed to congregate each evening to 

 hold a sort of frolic before going to roost, and it 

 has always appeared to me that the birds, both pied 

 and grey, were in pairs* So too, in watching the 

 starlings day after day in the field in front of my 

 window* Well able with my binocular to observe 

 them closely, I saw much to convince me that the 

 starling, too, lives all the year with his mate* 



Each morning the birds that had made our village 

 their daily feeding-ground, would, on arrival from 

 the roosting-place in one body, break up into numer- 

 ous small parties of half a dosen to twenty or more 

 birds* All day long these little flocks were hurrying 

 about from field to field, spending but a short time 

 at one spot, so hungry were they and anxious to 

 find a more productive one, and in every field they 

 would meet and mix with other small groups, and 

 presently all would fly, and breaking up into small 

 parties again go off in different directions* Thus one 



