14 Al^NIVEfiSARY ADDRESS 



and I never once saw it on a spawn bed. This at 

 least goes to show that its 'penchant for ova is not 

 strikingly noticeable. This bird is a true winter song- 

 ster, and it is very pleasant to hear it singing in 

 mid-winter, perched, as it often is, on an ice-covered 

 stone. It sings most at dawn and in the gloaming, 

 and its little voicings are so low that you must listen 

 in order to hear them. 



Starlings. — Sixty years ago, in Roxburghshire, almost 

 the only starlings to be seen were caged birds. A wild 

 starling was a comparative rarity. For many years 

 after these birds had become fairly numerous, they were 

 somewhat migratory, and were ever on the move, as 

 seasons changed. Now, though large numbers migrate, 

 we have always a large number fairly settled with us. 

 In the latter part of the year, in some seasons, these 

 birds visit some localities almost in swarms. A few 

 years ago, a friend, Mr George Riddell, asked me to 

 visit him at his residence in East Lothian, with a view 

 to my seeing a novel flight of starlings. This was late 

 in autumn, and the house, with large shrubberies and 

 gardens, stands about half a mile from the sea, and close 

 to the sea there is a long Scots fir plantation, to 

 which the starlings referred to flew every evening for 

 several weeks for rest and shelter. A little before 

 nightfall we placed ourselves in front of the house, and 

 faced in the direction of the Lammermuirs, whence my 

 friend had told me the flight of birds came. They soon 

 began to appear, flying at a great height, and as the 

 numbers increased they formed a really wonderful sight. 

 As far as the eyes could reach, mile on mile, the flying 

 birds somewhat darkened the sky, they were so close 

 and numerous, and as to numbers they were far beyond 

 any person's power to compute, or even to guess at. 

 The flight continued till nightfall, and all the bii-ds 

 harboured in the fir plantation referred to. A few days 



