234 WITH NATUBE AXD A CAMERA. 



skeletons in Puffin burrows and Raljbit holes, 

 whither they had crept to die. 



Birds that sleep in trees and shrubs always do 

 so with their heads to the Avind during a breezy 

 night ; and such as patronise holes in thatches and 

 the sides of ricks shun those infested with rats or 

 mice. 



Blackbirds roost in evergreens and thick hedge- 

 rows, and when disturbed invariably flutter out 

 without uttering a sound of any kind, but nearly 

 always pipe their familiar alarm note upon re- 

 alighting. On the night of June 22nd, 1897, I was 

 in the neighbourhood of Barnet Gate, where there 

 was a particularly large Jubilee bonfire and display 

 of pyrotechnics, and I heard several Carrion Crows 

 and I^lackbirds, which had been disturbed by the 

 flare and din, cry out in whiging their way from 

 the vicinity. 



Thrushes sleep in similar situations to Black- 

 birds, but are a trifle more partial to evergreens, 

 and when disturbed they often make a peculiar 

 snapping noise with their bills. The picture on 

 p. 238 represents a Thrush at roost in a hedgerow. 

 It was photographed by a magnesium flash at nine 

 o'clock at night in January, 1896, and is, so far as 

 we know, the first photographic study of a wild 

 bird on its natural roost ever made. 



Open hedges and bramble bushes are patronised 

 by Yellow Hammers, which may always be known 

 ])y their alarm note — trit trit trit — when disturbed. 

 Chaflinches sleep in hedgerows, but we have met 

 with surprisingly few at night-time, even in districts 

 where they were ])articularly numerous by day, 

 although we have sought carefull}' and long. 



We have found Kobins and Hedge Sparrows 

 roosting in laurel bushes, boxwood trees, and ever- 



