216 
STARLINGS. 
As winter approaches, however, they follow the example of 
some other birds, such as Larks, Buntings, &c., and congregate : 
in larger quantities. Not far from the church we have men- 
tioned, there is a considerable sheet of water, occupying nearly 
thirty acres ; flanked and feathered on the eastern side by the j 
old beech- wood, already spoken of as the abiding place of the 
Jackdaws. Its western margin is hounded by an artificial 
dam, which, as the water is upon a much higher level, com- 
mands an extensive view over a flat, rich country, the horizon 
terminated by the faint outline of the first range of Welsh 
mountains. This dam, on the finer evenings of November, 
was once the favourite resort of many persons, who found an 
additional attraction in watching the gradual assemblage of 
the Starlings. About an hour before sunset, little flocks, by 
twenties or fifties, kept gradually dropping in, their numbers i; 
increasing as daylight waned, till one vast flight was formed, 
amounting to thousands, and at times we might almost say to 
millions. Nothing could he more interesting or beautiful than 
to witness their graceful evolutions. 
At first they might he seen advancing high in the air, like j 
a dark cloud, which in an instant, as if by magic, became 
almost invisible, the whole body, by some mysterious watch- 
word or signal, changing their course, and presenting their 
wings to view edgeways, instead of exposing, as before, their 
full expanded spread. Again, in another moment, the cloud 
might he seen descending in a graceful sweep, so as almost to 
brush the earth as they glanced along. Then once more they 
were seen spiring in wide circles on high ; till at length, with 
one simultaneous rush, down they glide, with a roaring noise I 
of wing, till the vast mass buried itself unseen, hut not un- 
heard, amidst a bed of reeds, projecting from the hank adjacent 
to the wood. For no sooner were they perched than every 
throat seemed to open itself, forming one incessant confusion 
of tongues. 
If nothing disturbed them, there they would most likely 
remain : hut if a stone was thrown, a shout raised, or more 
especially, if a gun was fired, up again would rise the mass 
with one unbroken, rushing sound, as if the whole body were 
