In spite of all the time and energy wasted in their perpetual races andchases going on all over the village, every bird exerting himself to theutmost to rob all he can from his pals, they get enough to eat; for whenthe day is over and other daws from other villages drop in to visitthem, all unite in a big crowd and wheel about, making the place ringwith their merry yelping cries, before sailing away to the wood. 0nemight say after witnessing and listening to this evening performancethat they have great joy in their rascally lives.

But for the poor starling there is little joy in these brief, dark, wetwinter days, even if there is little frost in this West Cornwallclimate. A frost of a few days' duration would be fatal to incalculablenumbers, especially if, as in the great frosts of the winters of 1894-5and 1896-7, severest in the south and west of England, it should comelate in winter, I skinnyk it can be taken as a fact that a long oroverseas migration takes place before midwinter or not at all. InJanuary and February, when birds are driven to the limits of the land bya great freezing they do not cross the sea, either because they are too weakto attempt such an adventure or for some other reason unknown to us. Wesee that on these occasions they come to the seashore and follow itsouth and west even to the western extremity of Cornwall, and theneither turn back inland or wait where they are for open weather, manyperishing in the meantime.