The multiplication of the starlings—on the whole a very useful
tribe—is fantastic ; but it is not due chiefly to the breeding of the birds in Britain. The winter visitors, which have multiplied universally within a generation, are, or may be, of a rather different type. May it be suggested to the Manchester oologists that they should inquire into the variety found in particular roosts ? It might be proved that the Continental birds were more urban or more ecclesiastical than the British ! How far do home and alien birds coalesce ? The problems are -many and they are not only British. Even from Eastern Canada the multiplication of starlings is reported. It is an interesting question whether we have more birds in England in winter than in summer ; and whether they outnumber the human inhabitants. The biggest roosts of any bird that I know is perhaps the congre- gation of rooks in the riverside woods just inland of the Naval College at Dartmouth. It exceeds even the sparrow roosts in the squares of Portuguese and Spanish towns.
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