THE BIRDS OF PEMBROKESHIRE. 217 



these I may instance the Partridge, the Pheasant, and the Starling. 

 This last bird now visits us in the autumn in numbers which 

 would be poi'tentous were it in any sense a mischievous species. 

 On the contrary, the benefit it confers upon the pastures must be 

 immense in its destruction of millions of grubs preying upon the 

 roots of the grass. Half a century ago the Starling was almost 

 unknown in the West of England. A few small flocks were 

 occasionally noticed in the autumn, and were looked upon as the 

 precursors of a severe winter ; but it was so rare a bird that even 

 Col. Montagu had never seen a young one in its nestling plumage, 

 and actually described the first which was sent to him as an 

 unknown Thrush, calling it "the Solitary Thrush" {Turclus 

 solitarius). Since that time the Starling has regularly established 

 itself in Devonshire and Cornwall, and will, no doubt, before 

 long add itself to the birds which are to be found all through the 

 year in this county. Indeed, Mr. Propert informs me that a few 

 nests have already been met with at St. David's. 



Besides the regular seasonal migrations of birds, small local 

 shiftings are continually occurring, due to the changes of weather. 

 Snipe-shooters are familiar with the advice given by old sports- 

 men to go after the birds whenever there is a change in the 

 direction of the wind. For many years in succession I used to 

 wander with my gun over Dartmoor Forest. One day perhaps I 

 would walk for hours without obtaining a shot ; while on the 

 next, going over precisely the same beat, the birds would be so 

 numerous that my supply of cartridges would be soon exhausted, 

 the change being due to some sudden alteration in the weather. 

 A severe and continued frost sends numbers of birds to seek for 

 food on the sea-shore. A heavy fall of snow comes upon our 

 feathered friends as a great calamity, and the small birds which 

 feed upon seeds and grain are then in a sorry plight. One severe 

 winter Avhich I spent upon Lundy Island was made memorable b}' 

 the immense flocks of Sky Larks which arrived there during the 

 snow. All through the day they kept coming over from the 

 mainland in countless hosts, and soon were so thickly dispersed 

 everywhere upon the ground that it was impossible to fire at a 

 Snipe or a Woodcock without killing or wounding some of these 

 unfortunates. In such weather Sky Larks will also collect in 

 gardens to feed upon anything green they may discover, and it is 

 curious then to watch them. Six or eight may be seen at woi'k 



ZOOLOGIST. — JUNE, 1884. S 



