Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 4 (1900).djvu/167

Rh frost began. Next day all our local Peewits disappeared: so did the flocks of Starlings. There were no Peewits to be seen after that date, nor any Starlings (except pairs about houses) till Jan. 4th, when both re-appeared in flocks on the meadows near Shrewsbury.

Whether each group of Starlings attaches itself to a particular group of Peewits or Rooks, we have no means of knowing, but it is hardly likely, as the size of the flocks varies greatly from day to day. The reasons why these different birds associate together are probably:—

(1) That they are similar in their tastes as regards food.

(2) That they are all very wary birds, and associate for mutual protection.

Parenthetically, we may remark that the Starling is remarkable for unfailing good temper—he never quarrels with his company, nor is he treated as an intruder.

At night the Starlings that have kept company with the Rooks and Peewits all day retire to an ivy-clad tree or wall to roost. They may then be found occasionally in numbers up to a hundred or two; but these are only accidental gatherings—very different in character to the big roosts before-mentioned—and the birds do not travel any distance from their feeding-ground; they merely go to roost in the nearest convenient place.

The following incident evinces the existence of a strong spirit of comradeship amongst Starlings. Mr. D.H. Meares shot a Starling on the ground out of a flock at about eighty yards distance, when the whole flock rose and hovered round their companion, swaying up and down in the air over it in a triangular formation; some even tried to lift it; this continued for several minutes.

Reverting for a moment to the subject of "Roosts," we noticed, early in this paper, that the average distance between one roost and another was not more than eight miles, so that the radius of the area appropriated to each would be four miles. If we treat the area as a square it would contain sixty-four square miles. I believe that if all the roosts were recorded, we should find that this estimate is over the mark, and that the relative area is really much smaller. Anyone who has witnessed, as I have, the enormous multitudes of birds that assemble at some of