150 
STABLING. 
once on the 23rd. of March, by the late William Thompson, 
Esq., of Belfast, returning by the same route. They generally 
arrive between eight and ten o’clock in the morning, few 
coming after that hour, except when the wind is high, and 
then the flight is protracted until noon; if very stormy they 
do not come at all. They probably commence their flight 
very early in the morning. If circumstances have delayed 
their migration they make up for lost time by an increase 
in numbers. 
In Orkney they exist in immense numbers, and may be 
seen in flocks of thousands. 
They are partially migratory, or rather moveable, in some 
places at some seasons. 
So early as the latter end of the month of June, as soon, 
in fact, as their young have been sufficiently educated, 
Starlings begin to collect together in flocks of twenty or 
thirty, and, as the season advances, each of these is severally 
added to by recruits from other families, who join them in 
their flights, and so the original party ‘crescit eundo’ until 
in the end a vast mass is congregated. In the evening 
they collect in troops of thousands in the reed-beds which 
adjoin the river or the lake, especially in the fen districts of 
Lincolnshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire, and Huntingdonshire, 
and their harsh cry may be heard at a great distance, 
sounding almost like the noise of a steam saw-mill; so they 
also do in numbers towards the end of the summer even in 
gardens and on houses, and only after a great chattering 
retire to rest. Their habits, therefore, are social at these 
portions of the year, and even in the breeding-season many 
pairs will frequent the same locality, if it presents a sufficiency 
of favourable situations. They are very assiduous in their 
care of their young. They frequently may be seen in company 
with different other species, such as Redwings, Fieldfares, 
Wood Pigeons, Jackdaws, Plovers, and especially Rooks, a 
common purpose bringing them together on neutral ground. 
They are occasionally a little quarrelsome over some mutual 
‘bone of contention,’ but in general they live peaceably 
together, nor do they molest other birds. In barren districts 
they roost at night all the year round in the holes and 
crevices where they have built, but in other parts of the 
country, where a choice of shelter is afforded, they repair to 
different situations for the purpose. They are good enough 
to eat, but rather tough, and slightly bitter. 
