384 
BIRD-LIFE. 
purpose of moulting, when they congregate with other 
families in bands, associating restlessly with Pigeons, or 
more frequently with Rooks. At such times they keep 
flying from one part of the country to the other, roosting 
at night in the reed-beds. For weeks together not a 
Starling is to be seen in front of its breeding-box,* but 
in the beginning of September each pair returns to its 
old home, singing as in spring, creeping in and out, and 
sleeping there, while the young, who have moulted in 
the meantime, still keep in flocks. In the middle of 
October these flocks are again joined by the old birds, 
when the whole mass take their departure. 
During the “ passage” these migrating bands always 
keep together: this may often be remarked even in 
Germany, hut it is still more striking in the South, for 
on the great main routes of migration scarcely a day 
passes without large flocks being seen pursuing their 
journey. These companies afford an interesting spectacle. 
Many birds preserve such strict order during their flight 
as to be worthy of imitation: while on the wing they 
generally form their masses into the shape of the letter 
V, one member of the community taking the lead, and 
the remainder following in such order as not to leave a 
broken space in the sides of the triangle, though the 
length of either line is continually changed. Inasmuch 
as it is evident that this wedge-like disposition of their 
forces is only adopted so as to facilitate their passage 
through the air as much as possible, it naturally follows 
that the leader becomes sooner fatigued than his compa¬ 
nions, and must, therefore, be relieved by them in turn. 
The mode of flight just described is that adopted by our 
* In Germany it is customary to place a small box on a pole in the garden for 
tbe Starlings to breed in.— W. J . 
