128 Twelve Months With 



and wander about the woods and fields, feeding. 

 This early flocking habit of some of our birds 

 has no connection with migration. After the 

 young are grown and able to help themselves, 

 the young and old travel about together in search 

 of food, which is doubtless made necessary by the 

 increased number of birds, and the comparative 

 scarcity of food in particular localities. This 

 flocking habit is also due in some cases to the fact 

 that many birds, such as crows, grackles, swal- 

 lows, gulls, etc., roost every night in large numbers 

 at some favorite place at which they regularly 

 congregate. 



I wonder if Marjorie Pickthall noticed this 

 flocking of the birds to a common roost when 

 she wrote: 



"Oh little hearts, beat home, beat home, 



Here is no place to rest. 

 Night darkens on the falling foam 



And on the fading west. 

 Oh little wings, beat home, beat home, 



Love may no longer roam." 



This tendency to gregariousness is especially 

 noticeable in our common blackbirds, the bronze 

 grackles and the red-wings. Early in July a 

 flock of perhaps fifty grackles remained about 

 the neighborhood of my home for three or four 

 days, flying about in the trees and walking through 

 the grass in stately, dignified fashion, feeding upon 

 insects. 



