THE STARLING. 
285 
of migration, as they are annually observed for several weeks to 
pour into Ireland from the north, and wing their way southward. 
To myself they have frequently so appeared, but I prefer giving 
the more full and satisfactory testimony of trustworthy and intel- 
ligent “ shore-shooters,” three of whom, being consulted, agree 
upon the subject. They state that the general autumnal migra- 
tion of stares or stars* (as they are sometimes called) commences 
towards the middle or end of September, according to the season, 
and continues daily for about six or eight weeks. So early as the 
middle of July, a flock was once observed flying southerly in 
the autumnal course. When the weather is moderate, flocks 
consisting of from half-a-dozen to two hundred individuals, 
are seen every morning, coming from the north-east, passing 
over a point of land where a river enters Belfast bay about 
a mile from the town, and continuing in the same course 
until lost to view. They are generally seen only for one 
and a half, or two hours,— from eight to ten o'clock a.m., — none 
appearing before the former hour, and rarely any after the latter, 
except when the wind is high, and then the flight is protracted 
until noon ; if very stormy, they do not come at all. When they 
commence migration unusually late in the season, as was the case 
in 1838, they make up for lost time by an increase of numbers. 
Thus, they were first seen in that year on the 23rd of October, 
when they made their appearance at half-past eight o'clock a.m., 
and continued passing in flocks of from twenty to one and two 
hundred individuals, until two o'clock. At the season of their 
earliest appearance, there is daylight between four and five o'clock 
in the morning, and the fact of their not being seen before eight 
o'clock, leads to the belief that they have left some distant place at 
an early hour. On the same morning, the flocks all take the same 
line of flight, but the direction varies when the wind is sufficiently 
strong to affect their movements. Those which come within the 
hours already mentioned, very rarely alight ; but when a flock 
* Similar abbreviations are in common use among the dealers in birds (living and 
dead), in the north of Ireland; thus, in grey linnet, chaffinch, green linnet, &c., an 
economy of words is practised, and the first syllable alone is sufficient to indicate the 
species. In the same manner, I have in Perthshire heard the hooded or grey crow 
called simply buddy. 
