174 ROBIN ROOSTS. 



Frog Pond and the Beacon Street Mall (I 

 wonder whether the same trees are still in 

 use for the same purpose), where, after 

 much noise and some singing, they retired 

 to rest, if going to sleep in a leafless 

 treetop can be called retiring. 



Whatever the origin and reason of this 

 roosting habit, I have no doubt that it is 

 universal. Middlesex County birds cannot 

 be in any respect peculiar. Whoever will 

 keep a close eye upon the robins in his neigh- 

 borhood, in July and August, will find them 

 at sunset flocking to some general sleeping- 

 place. 



It would be interesting to know how far 

 they travel at such times. The fact that so 

 many hundreds were to be seen at a point 

 more than a mile away from the Belmont 

 roost is significant ; but I am not aware that 

 any one has yet made a study of this part of 

 the subject. My own birds seemed to come, 

 as a rule, by easy stages. In the long nar- 

 row valley east of the roost, where I oftenest 

 watched their approach, they followed ha- 

 bitually not invariably a zigzag route, 

 crossing the meadow diagonally, and for the 

 most part alighting for a little upon a cer- 



