A Brewer Blackbird Roost 57 



At 5 :07, from the roost came a tzvee-dle and kwee, after 

 which the voices piped up with a variety of notes, some harsh, 

 but others soft and Hquid as running water, while some were 

 clear and surprisingly musical. Altogether it made a delight- 

 ful, mysterious concert from the invisible choir within the 

 cypresses. The first movement apparently began with a few 

 birds which had roosted in some grevillia trees back of the 

 row of cypresses. 



At 5 :10 the first Blackbird was seen flying between the 

 trees. At 5 :11 the first bird lit on the telephone cable, but 

 he quickly went back into a tree. At 5 :13 three birds ap- 

 peared on the wires and the first black forms came out on 

 the tips of the cypress branches. At 5 :18 — five minutes 

 later — over 150 birds were on the cable. As they came up 

 out of the depths of the trees some stopped to sit on the tips 

 of the branches a few moments as if to get waked up more 

 thoroughly, but most of themi flew directly to the cables. Oc- 

 casionally a bird lit on a single wire and tipped and tilted 

 until it decided to fly to a more stable perch. On the big 

 steady cables the birds sat and preened their feathers as if 

 getting ready for breakfast in comfort. 



At 5 :19 the first stragglers started off, quickly followed by 

 larger bands. At 5:21 about 100 were on the wires, and 

 bands of 14 and 18 left. One small flock crossed the street 

 and swung off to the northeast, but almost all the rest went 

 northwest as they had come. At 5 :25 flocks of 20, 17, and 

 12 left. At 5 :27 there were about 90 on the wires. At 5 :28 

 there were again about 100 on the wires and in sight on the 

 cypresses and an adjoining grevillia tree. During the next 

 twelve minutes the birds left rapidly, the number of those on 

 the wires dropping by intervals of from one to four minutes 

 from 100 to 80, 50, 40, 25, 9, and 5. At 5 :35 a Western Lark 

 Sparrow sang. At 5 :40, when only five Blackbirds were in 

 sight, the first wagon passed and no birds flew. At 5 :42 the 

 one bird left on the wires went, flying ofif by himself toward, 

 the east. In other words, from the time of the first note at 



