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foliage as if a strong wind were blowing through the trees. This is caused by the movements of 
innumerable birds who, in the attempt to secure positions nearer the centre of the roost, or in 
thicker foliage, are continually darting from place to place, often plunging headlong into the branches 
or dropping through the leaves with much awkward and noisy fluttering. Either because of 
inability to see distinctly in the dim light, or with deliberate design to dispossess their fellows, such 
restless spirits often try to appropriate perches already occupied, and the squabbles which ensue, 
although quickly ended by one or the other giving way, are accompanied by outcries which rise 
above the general din of shrill, varied voices. If it is early in the season there is also more 
or less singing. 
« But the most characteristic and peculiar sound to be heard in a roost is that produced by the 
myriad wings constantly striking the leaves. This closely resembles the patter of hail or large 
rain-drops on dry foliage at the beginning of a shower. There is also an equally steady and 
similar but slighter sound of falling excrement, with which the ground and bushes beneath the 
roost are so thickly covered at times as to look as if sprinkled with snowflakes. Ав the darkness 
deepens the tumult gradually subsides. One by one the shrill voices are hushed and the nervous 
flutterings cease, until, when the light has quite gone from the west and the stars are all out in the 
great dome overhead, a person might pause under the trees and listen intently for minutes without 
hearing anything save the occasional drowsy chirp or faint rustle of some half-awakened bird—sole 
tokens of the feathered host bivouacking in the leafy canopy above." 
Adult male in breeding-plumage. General colour above ashy-grey, the hind-neck and mantle 
mottled with black bases to the feathers, the lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts uniform 
ashy-grey, clearer towards the latter; wing-coverts like the back, with dusky blackish bases; 
greater coverts and quills blackish, externally ashy-grey, inclining to hoary grey on the margins, 
the primaries with a narrow edging of white; tail-feathers black, narrowly fringed with grey, 
the three outer feathers with white tips, represented by a large spot of white on the outermost, 
a small band at the tip of the penultimate, and a narrow fringe at the end of the third feather; 
crown of head and nape black, as well as the sides of the face, ear-coverts, and cheeks; the 
black on the nape tolerably well-defined and distinct from the hind-neck, which is mottled 
with black bases to the feathers as on the mantle; above the lores and above the eye a few white 
feathers, not sufficient to form an eyebrow ; below the eye a spot of white; fore part of cheeks 
streaked with white; chin white; throat black, the feathers margined with white, producing 
а streaked appearance; under surface of body from the fore-neck downwards bright cinnamon- 
chestnut, white on the lower abdomen, lower flanks, vent, thighs, and under tail-coverts; the 
sides of the lower flanks ashy-brown; under wing-coverts and axilaries cinnamon-chestnut, 
the latter with obscure white margins; quills ashy-brown below: “bill lemon-yellow, dusky along 
the sides and at the tip; feet pale brown; iris hazel" (J. J. Audubon). Total length 9:5 inches, 
culmen 0:95, wing 5:2, tail 3:65, tarsus 1:8. | 
Adult female in breeding-plumage. Like the male, but not so rich in colour below, and 
with remains of whitish margins to the feathers of the under surface; the hind-neck and mantle 
not so much mottled with blackish centres to the feathers. Total length 9:4 inches, culmen 0:95, 
wing 5:2, tail 3-6, tarsus 1:35. 
Nestling. Dusky-grey above, mottled with black margins and longitudinal ochreous-buff 
centres to the feathers; the lesser and median wing-coverts with triangular spots of buff at the 
ends, the greater series edged externally with ochreous-buff, like the quills, and tipped with buffy- 
white; inner secondaries margined with white at the ends; lower back, rump, and Ж 
tail-coverts more ashy-grey, narrowly lined with buffy-white shaft-stripes and faint blackish margins; 
tail-feathers as in the adults, and the white spots on the outer ones very well marked; crown of 
