1890.] Brewster on Robin Roosts. S^9 



but no Blackbirds of any species. A few Cedarbirds are also 

 found in or near most of tbe roosts, and at Beaver Brook Mr. 

 Faxon has seen Brown Thrashers. 



Having dealt with what may be termed the statistics of my 

 subject, it remains to give some description of these flights and 

 the behavior of the birds at the roost. There is nothing about 

 the start which would attract particular attention, but a close ob- 

 server will notice that, as evening draws near, such Robins as 

 may have been scattered about on the lawns or in the orchards 

 near his position begin to show marked restlessness, ascending 

 to the tops of the taller trees, calling a good deal — an old male 

 perhaps singing. At length they take wing, one after another in 

 quick succession, each, as it flies, uttering a loud note, and in 

 straggling order disappear over the trees. The approach of another 

 flock seems to excite them and hasten their departure, and they 

 often follow it at once, all dashing off together as if struck by a 

 panic, but I have never seen two flocks unite, although single 

 birds occasionally join a larger number. Their course towards 

 the roost is usually straight, but they sometimes turn aside to avoid 

 a hill or follow the valley of a brook or river. As 'all roads 

 lead to Rome,' so the various Robin paths traced across the sky 

 at sunset converge more or less regularly from every side to their 

 common centre, the roost. At roosts where for one or another 

 reason most of the birds enter on a single side only and are drawn 

 to something like a focus, they form, during the height of the 

 rush, an apparently continuous stream. But close examination 

 will show that the flight is always more or less intermittent and 

 composed of single Robins and loose, straggling parties of from 

 three or four to eighteen or twenty birds, each single bird or 

 flock moving quite independently of all the rest. 



Some — probably birds from the greatest distances — are a thou- 

 sand feet or more above the earth, flying slowly apparently, with 

 whirring, often intermittent, wing-beats, until almost over the 

 roost when, perhaps after circling once or twice, they half close 

 their wings and drop like meteors, or descend in graceful curves 

 or-^spirals. Others, at lower elevations, seem to advance more 

 rapidly and steadily, and upon nearing the roost glide down on 

 gentler inclines. While still others skim close over the turf with 

 arrowy swiftness, swerving now to this side, now to that, to 

 avoid bushes or other obstacles, and turning sharply upward into 



