BEDTIME. 333 



cither burrowed out or selected ready made for 

 the purpose. At dusk, the Woodpeckers seek a 

 bedroom in the hollow trees, coming to certain 

 holes night after night ; and the Kingfisher 

 retires at dusk to his cave under the banks of 

 the stream. Herons and Rooks love to roost in 

 fir trees. Pipits, Wagtails, and Larks sleep upon 

 the ground, nestled among the dry herbage. 

 Pheasants love the holly trees, but Partridges 

 pass the night on the open fields. 



Many birds there are that cannot avail them- 

 selves of the shelter of the evergreens. Some of 

 them inhabit the wind-swept mountain-tops, where 

 the breeze is ever sighing and moaning through 

 the scanty herbage, and round the boulders and 

 pebbles the Ptarmigan, for example. But this 

 bird crouches low amongst the crannies of the 

 rocks, and, like the Red Grouse, lower down the 

 hills, often buries itself in the snow, and sleeps 

 secure from harm in the wreath when the weather 

 is more than usually severe. The Eagles and the 

 Falcons generally sleep at home among the cliffs 

 where they make their nests ; so, too, do the 

 Crows and Ravens all these are birds well able 

 to stand the cold and the tempest ; although one 

 cannot help thinking that this constant exposure 

 to the elements is one of the causes of their com- 

 parative rarity. Shore birds sleep much during 

 the daytime, and are more or less alert and active 

 during the night. Petrels sleep in their breeding 

 holes ; Gulls on the open banks, and on ocean 



