MARCH 



73 



thrushes, listening to the chanting of the monks at 

 vespers and prime, acquired and repeated the oft- 

 heard refrain. But in this line our leading performer 

 is unquestionably the Starling— the troubadour of the 

 chimney-pots, giving to the term its true meaning of 

 one who invents or improvises as he sings. Who does 

 not know the starling on the roof or up in the elm 

 tops as he sings, whistling, piping, wheezing and 

 flapping his wings ? This is genuine starling minstrelsy 

 and all his own, but in early spring he runs over the 

 whole repertoire of sounds which he has picked up 

 at one time or another, interweaving them with his 

 true notes in a series of reminiscences or character 

 sketches. One starling gave a life-like rendering of 

 the corn-crake, another hit off the green woodpecker's 

 cry to a nicety, a third mimicked the yellow-hammer, 

 and threw in one of the brown owl's notes. At the 

 curlew's call we have looked up, to find that the only 

 " curlew " in sight is the starling on the chimney-top. 

 These powers of mimicry are of course shared by the 

 starling with the members of the crow family, to which 

 it is so nearly related. 



Such are some of the ideas called forth by the first 

 outburst of song in March. But bird minstrelsy is by 

 no means confined to spring or to the breeding season, 

 and this will appear (with the possible exception of 

 tuneless August) as we trace the fortunes of our 

 feathered acquaintance through the ensuing months. 



