working below. And every one 
knows how fond they are of the 
parasitic insects which torment 
cattle and sheep so greatly. 
Except during the nesting 
season Starlings are seldom seen 
singly or in pairs, and in autumn 
and winter they travel about the 
country in large flocks, which 
sometimes consist of many thou- 
sands of individuals. These flocks 
always seem to have a leader, and 
in some mysterious way they all 
turn and swerve and rise and 
fall at exactly the same instant, 
as though their movements were due to the operation of a 
single will. More remarkable still, a large number of flocks 
will sometimes congregate for a single night in one small 
copse or spinney, coming in from all 
directions till the birds are huddled to- 
gether upon the branches so closely that 
the late-comers are unable to find places 
at all. Why they do this nobody knows ; 
neither is it possible to say how the 
summons is sent out to all these distant 
flocks, or how they find their way to 
26 
