STARLINGS.
[To THE EDITOR Of THE "SPECTATOR."] BM—The writer on starlings in the Spectator of December 9th thinks that these birds were not common in the western counties of Wales fifty years ago. But to my personal know- ledge they were to be seen in Pembrokeshire sixty years ago in great abundance, large flocks appearing in the autumn and abiding through the winter. To what extent they nested there I cannot say, but I know that they did nest there. In one instance they fraternized with the pigeons and nested in the pigeon-holes, apparently on the best of terms with their neighbours. The farmer was very fond of his pigeons, but prouder still of his starlings. How apt the starling is in learning a new method of getting new food the following will show. A friend of mine feeds birds regularly in front of his dining-room window, and he nails a cross lath on an upright and hangs two lumps of suet by strings of 15 inches long for the tom-tits. The starlings made great efforts to attack the suet, but for a long time they failed, the suet always slipping away from under their feet. At last one starling, either by accident or by experiment, perched on the cross lath, and then, clawing on to the string, slid down until he reached the suet and there hung on. In a very little while all the other starlings learnt the trick and made short work of the suet, to the great detriment of the tits. To see them going through the gymnastic exercise one after another is no slight amusement.—I am, Sir, &c., D. G. T.
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