102 OBSERVATIONS ON BIRDS. 



active and noisy as the evening advances. White 

 remarks that, " just before they retire, whole groups 

 of them assemble high in the air, and squeak, and 

 shoot about with wonderful rapidity." On these 

 occasions, all the individuals of a town or village 

 seem to unite, in one large body, and, by way of 

 finale to their day's exertions, to wheel round and 

 round the adjoining buildings, all screaming toge- 

 ther. 



White has given a list of birds, few in number he 

 observes, that sing in the night.* In it he has in- 

 cluded the nightingale, woodlark, and lesser reed- 

 sparrow, f Some other species, however, may occa- 

 sionally be heard at such times. On the 30th of 

 April, 1843, I heard a hedge accentor singing after 

 midnight. The cuckoo may be often heard in the 

 night, as Montagu and others have noticed. J As an 

 unusual occurrence, it may be mentioned also that I 

 once heard the collared or African turtle (Columba 

 risoria, Auct.) cooing in a cage, out of doors, at 10 

 p. m. on a frosty night, in the first week of January. 

 It would seem, from this circumstance, that this 

 species, not in general considered very hardy, suffered 

 but little from the inclemency of our winters. 



* Nat. Hist. Selborne, Lett. I. to D. Barrington. 



t Now more commonly called the sedge-warbler (Salicaria 

 phragmitis). 



$ The skylark has been also heard singing at night. See 

 The Zoologist, p. 238. 



