266 AUTUMN AND WINTER 



do not frequent the great public dormitories of their 

 kind. It seems not unlikely that the inmates of the great 

 winter starlings' roosts are chiefly or wholly immigrant birds, 

 and that those of our home-bred starlings which remain with 

 us during winter keep to themselves and roost near the places 

 where they build. Though rooks and jackdaws and star- 

 lings can often be seen feeding together in the winter fields, 

 starlings do not join the two larger species in their home- 

 ward flight. They go early to roost, like sparrows and 

 finches ; and by the time that we watch the rooks and jack- 

 daws sailing home through the autumn sky, and listen for 

 the querulous cry of the daw among the rooks' graver voices, 

 they are already snug for the night. 



