BIRDS IN CORNISH VILLAGE 269 



village, I began to concentrate my attention on 

 a few common species that were always present, 

 particularly on the three commonest — rook, daw, 

 and starling; the first two residents, the starling, 

 a winter visitor from September to April. 



In October, I started feeding the birds at the 

 house where I was staying as a guest, throwing 

 the scraps on a lawn at the back which sloped 

 down towards the estuary. First came all the 

 small birds in the immediate neighbourhood — 

 robin, dunnock, wagtail, chaffinch, throstle, black- 

 bird, and blue and ox-eye tits. Then followed 

 troops of starlings, and soon all the rooks and 

 daws in the village began to see what was going 

 on and come too, and this attracted the gulls 

 from the estuary — I wished that it had drawn 

 the curlews ; and all these big ones were so greedy 

 and bold, so noisy and formidable-looking that 

 the small birds were quite driven out; all except 

 the starlings that came in hungry crowds and were 

 determined to get their share. 



At the beginning of December I had to move 

 to a nursing-home at the Convent of the Sisters 

 of the Cross at the adjacent village of Hayle, just 

 across the estuary. The Convent buildings and 



