134 Starlings. 



before, but where they have eaten we can get at 

 the ground comfortably. The water- wagtail is there 

 alread}^ ; he alwa^-s accompanies the herd, and will 

 have the pick and choice of every thing. Or what 

 do you say to the meadow by the brook? The 

 mowers have begun, and the swathe has fallen be- 

 fore their scythes ; there are acres of ground there 

 which we could not touch for weeks ; now it is open, 

 and the place is teeming with good food. The 

 finches are there as busy as may be between the 

 swathes — chaffinch and greenfinch, hedge-sparrow, 

 thrushes, and blackbirds too. Are 3'ou afraid? 

 Why, no one shoots in the middle of a summer's 

 day. Still irresolute? (with an angry shrillness). 

 Will ,you or will you not ? (a sharp short whistle of 

 interrogation) . You are simply idiots (finishing with 

 a scream of abuse) . I 'm off ! ' 



Seeing him start, the rest follow at once, jealous 

 lest he should enjoy these pleasures alone. As he 

 flies every few minutes he closes his wings, so that 

 for half a dozen yards he shoots like an arrow 

 through the air ; then rapidly uses them, and again 

 closes and shoots forward, all the time keeping a 

 level straight course, going direct to his object. 



The starlings that breed in the roof, though they 

 leave the place later on and congregate in flocks 

 roosting in trees, still come back now and then to 

 revisit their homes, especially as the new 3'ear opens, 

 when they alight on the house frequently and consult 

 on the approaching important period of nesting. If 

 you should be sitting near a window close under the 

 roof where they are busy, reading a book, with the 

 summer sunshine streamino- in, now and then a flash 



