Feathers fly amid faction fighting

Richard Collins on the traditions surrounding birds.

THE Battle of Kinsale was not the only great confrontation to take place in Co Cork. Folk tradition has it that two armies of starlings once faced each other there. Starlings are well able to fight their corner and can see off bullies such as blackbirds, but faction fights really aren’t their thing. So did the legendary battle ever take place? Now a book has appeared that throws light on the subject: Glynn Anderson’s Birds of Ireland, facts, folklore and history.

The starling incident, it seems, has a considerable pedigree. Samuel Pepys, who lived through the London plague of 1665 and the great fire a year later, is remembered for his diary, but, among his collection of ballads, is one entitled The Battell of the Birds. This describes how two armies of starlings faced each other in the city of Cork. Hostilities ensued and huge numbers of birds were left dead on the streets.