4 
STARLINGS. 
will let themselves gently fall from their airy height, 
and glide down upon the lawn, as if to inquire into 
the state of their future larder ; for they scarcely 
take time to taste the hidden treasures below the sod, 
but looking suspiciously about, are on the wing in a 
moment, if an inmate approaches the widow, or a 
door is heard to shut or open. 
About the latter end of the second week, affairs 
begin to be placed upon a more regular footing; the 
parties on or about the battlements and weather- 
cock, seem as if they had determined upon a perma- 
nent establishment. From early dawn till about ten, 
there they remain carolling away their communica- 
tions; at that hour, however, off they go, and till 
four or five o'clock, are seen no more, throughout 
the greater part of the day ; being absent in the fields, 
where they maybe seen chattering in company with 
the inhabitants of a neighbouring rookery, or a noisy 
set of Jackdaws, who have, for time out of mind, 
been the undisputed tenants of a certain portion of 
an ancient beech-wood, at no great distance. 
About the third week, the plot begins to thicken 
still more. The field, the lawn, and the weather- 
cock, are no longer the only objects of interest. 
Detachments may be now seen, prowling busily over 
the roof, cautiously creeping in and out, from under 
the projecting eaves, and by the end of the month, 
the regular establishment, amounting to about thirty, 
has assembled, and the grand work of the year fairly 
commences. From this time all is bustle; straws, 
and nest-furniture, are seen flying through the air in 
beaks, contriving, nevertheless, to announce their 
comings and goings by particular harsh or low mut- 
