THE SLEEPING HOMES OF ANIMALS 197 



corners on the chalk downs where they live, alight head 

 downwards on the tops of the grasses which there 

 flourish, and, closing and lowering their wings as far 

 as possible, look exactly like a seed-head on the grasses. 

 If the night is cold, they creep down the stem and sleep 

 in shelter among the thick lower growth of grass. The 

 habits of birds in regard to sleep are very unlike, some 

 being extremely solicitous to be in bed in good time, 

 while others are awake and about all night. But 

 among the former the sleeping-place is the true home, 

 the domus et 'penetralia. It has nothing necessarily in 

 common with the nest, and birds, like some other 

 animals and many human beings, often prefer complete 

 isolation at this time. They want a bedroom to them- 

 selves. Sparrows, which appear to go to roost in 

 companies, and sometimes do so, after a vast amount 

 of talk and fuss, do not rest cuddled up against one 

 another, like starlings or chickens, but have private 

 holes and corners to sleep in. They are fond of 

 sleeping in the sides of straw-ricks, but each sparrow 

 has its own little hollow among the straws, just as each 

 of a flock of sleeping larks makes its own ' cubicle ' on 

 the ground. A London sparrow for two years occupied 

 a sleeping-home almost as bare of furniture as the ceiling 

 which the East Indian butterfly frequented. It came 

 every night in winter to sleep on a narrow ledge under 

 the portico of a house in Onslow Square. Above was 



