1909
Sept 20-27
(No 3)
  The Starlings, also, are in full song now at almost all hours.
Two or three males are nearly always to be seen & heard perched on
a metal weathercock in front of Riggs Hotel to which they seem
to resort for the purpose of indulging in a friendly musical
competition. It is conducted in the most decorous and leisurely
manner, without the slightest show of jealousy. First one & then
another takes his turn, each uttering a great variety of notes,
with singular deliberation or, at least, so it impresses one by reason
of the prolongued intervals of silence which separate even some
of the shorter utterances. Some of the notes are whistles, very closely
enunciated and very human in quality, others rich, musical warblings,
still others wiry, metallic trills not unlike the "reeling" of the Skylark.
On the whole the Starling is no mean musician - if one but
listen to him attentively - besides being a very droll fellow.
  Between Thirlmere and Derwentwater we saw, on the
lawn slopes of the mountains and in the valley, hundreds
of acres of well grown larches (30 to 60 ft. in height) nearly
denuded of foliage and apparently dying. On making
enquiry as to the cause of this devastation I was told by
a gentleman living in the region that it is due to the
depredations of the larvae of a species of Saw Fly, which feeds
on the foliage of the larch but does not attack the trunk or
branches. This insect, my informant said, appears locally,
during some years, in enormous numbers but as a season
of excessive abundance is usually followed by several of
almost total absence it has not as yet killed very
many of the trees. This is the only locality in Great
Britain where I have ever seen the foliage of trees
of any kind seriously marred by the attack of
insects.
Larches stripped of their foliage by insects.