Herbert Edward Forrest

“ The effect of any sudden sound, such as the stroke of an oar falling flat on the water, is startling. Instantly the thousands of Starlings rise into the air uttering cries of alarm, with much fluttering of wings, only to resettle the next minute, amid congratulatory murmurs of satisfaction, till silence is again restored. ”

“ As soon as the young are able to fly the Starlings go out every morning to feed, keeping together in family parties, and particularly frequenting meadows where sheep and cattle are grazing, to pick up the insects disturbed by their feet. They return each night to the nest to roost. The young grow so rapidly, however, that soon there is not room for them in the nest. In this emergency some other sleeping-place has to be found, and what place would so naturally recur to the minds of the parent birds as the spot where they roosted in the previous autumn? ”

“ At Sandford Pool, near Whitchurch, Salop, close to the Cheshire border, four pairs of Tufted Ducks came and nested in 1891, in the reedy marsh at the northern end, and they have continued to do so ever since. Strange to say, there have always been neither more nor less than four pairs, while—unlike the Weston Park birds—they have not become residents. They arrive each year early in March; nest towards the end of May; and leave, with the young, about the beginning of November. The young birds, which number about thirty each year, do not return to their native pool. ”

“ Paddock says that when the reeds break down the Starlings resort to a bed of osiers on another part of the pool, and finally desert those when the leaves fall off. Roosts of the other class—on trees and underwoods—are resorted to much longer. Indeed, the one at Moreton Corbet is never quite deserted; a few small flocks resorting to it through the winter and spring, and even in the breeding season.
The general habits of the Starling may be thus described: During summer they scatter in pairs all over the country to breed, except perhaps small flocks of young birds that do not breed. ”

“ Starlings in the country, during winter, behave quite differently; they go about in small flocks, sometimes alone, but more often in company with other birds that frequent fields, especially Rooks and Peewits. Around Shrewsbury, Peewits are very numerous, and it seems to me that there exists some bond of sympathy between them and Starlings, for we rarely see a flock of Peewits without its attendant train of Starlings. If the Peewits move into the next field, the Starlings do the same ”

“ Tower, who has observed the birds on the meres continuously for many years, tells me that, although the Tufted Duck visits Ellesmere regularly every winter in large numbers, not a single pair has ever been known to remain to breed. ”

“ They condescend to return to their families later on, when the latter are growing up, but they take no part in the sitting, nor in feeding the spouse on the nest, nor do they ever help to feed or look after the young. In short, they are not at all patterns of marital behaviour.
Although the pool at Sandford is private, and the ducks have never been molested, they are very shy, and would never allow me to get near enough with the camera to take a snap-shot of them on the water. ”

“ A simple and probable explanation of the phenomenon is this:—When Starlings rear two broods in the year, the second brood would be younger than the first by some two months or so. When the breeding season comes round in the following spring, the second broods are not sufficiently adult to breed, and, not having any duties to call them elsewhere, they naturally continue to resort at night to the old familiar roost. ”

“ When alighting on the pear tree the birds generally make a loud chatter, but not always—sometimes there is no noise but the rushing sound of their wings. The ground and hazel underwood in the coppice are covered with the birds' droppings, and the fetid odour arising from these and the massed birds is perceptible at a considerable distance. The number of birds assembling each night in autumn at this roost is enormous, and towards the end of September or early in October it is further increased by flocks from Caynton and other places. ”

“ Starlings are so familiar to us all, whether living in town or country, that it would be natural to suppose we know all about their habits and economy, and that it would be almost impossible to find anything fresh to say about them. ”

“ They are hardly at all gregarious, but live on housetops, feeding on anything that falls in their way. It rarely happens that more than two or four are seen together, and I fancy that these are paired birds returning to their old nesting-places as a kind of head-quarters whence to forage around. ”

“ W.E. Beckwith says of this species:—"The Tufted Duck is rather common on pools in Shropshire in winter, being often found with Pochards, and, though the females or young birds are always much more plentiful than the handsome adult males, I frequently see the latter on the Ellesmere meres. About the year 1855 a pair of Tufted Ducks bred near Shifnal, and several pairs now breed regularly in that neighbourhood. I have also seen one with young ones in June on a pool near Shrewsbury; and, in the summer of 1885, I saw a pair of Tufted Ducks, but without young, on Whitemere, near Ellesmere. ”

“ I have never known three broods, and there are some Starlings that do not breed at all. Mr. G.W. Murdoch, Natural History Editor of the 'Yorkshire Weekly Post,' writes in reply to a query on this point:—"In Hants Starlings very often breed twice a year; I never knew them do so in Scotland. I am of opinion that a good many Starlings never breed at all, but for what cause I know not. That is also the opinion of my friend the Rev. H.A. Macpherson, M.A., author of 'The Fauna of Lakeland.'" Mr. E.S. Cobbold writes in April, 1899:—"Why are the Starlings congregating in flocks now? ”

“ Not always, however, is the scene thus peaceful. If there is a Sparrowhawk in the vicinity that has not fallen a victim to the keeper's gun—alas, how few do escape—it can hardly fail to discover such a happy hunting-ground as this. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Anyone who observes our local birds must notice that the number of Starlings in any given neighbourhood suffers a great and sudden diminution some time in late autumn, and there is pretty good evidence that this is caused by emigration. ”

“ Its numbers have steadily increased, till now there are about twenty pairs nesting on five or six pools. The birds here have lost the migratory habit, and become residents, although, like other Anatidæ, the Tufted Duck is normally a winter migrant; even here the colony in winter is increased by visitors. ”

“ 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. ”

“ They regularly search every inch of the lawn for worms, insects, and grubs, and never failed to do this during the past dry summer, although, as there were hardly any worm-casts to be seen, the worms had evidently left the surface-soil and retired to the moister earth below ”

“ The Starlings roost on the reeds in tens of thousands.—H.E. Forrest.
Moreton Corbet, six miles north-east of Shrewsbury.—A coppice called Dawson's Rough; one of the biggest roosts in the county. The Starlings here probably number over a million, and roost on the hazel underwood. Pheasants roost on the big trees, but the odour of the Starlings and their droppings causes them to quit each year. The keepers have tried to drive away the Starlings by shooting, &c, but without any final success.—W.H. Parry. ”

“ The ducklings, before they are twenty-four hours old, take to the water and go off with the mother. For the first week or so they keep hidden away amongst the rushes, &c, but afterwards appear on the open water, swimming about with the mother. ”