ROOSTING HABITS OF CERTAIN BIRDS. 7 
of the starlings’ boxes here under the eaves of the house are 
occupied on winter nights by sparrows. Last summer and 
autumn a great many small birds, chiefly sparrows, had for a 
long time been in the habit of roosting among the leafy under- 
wood of a plantation; but the severe gale of November i8th 
stripped off nearly all the remaining leaves, and left the place 
bare and shelterless. In the afternoon following there was a 
tremendous hub-bub in the plantation ; the sparrows had 
assembled as usual for the night, but finding all shelter gone, 
were chirping and chattering away in a state of great consterna- 
tion, and probably holding a consultation as to what was to be 
done. 
Large beds of reeds and bulrushes are favourite sleeping 
places with many birds. Besides the usual reed dwellers, such 
as the sedge and reed warblers, black-headed bunting, &c., vast 
numbers of starlings, as well as of swallows, house martins and 
sand martins congregate and pass the night there. On fine 
evenings, as autumn comes on, the air above these “ reedlands ” 
sometimes seems almost thick with swallows and martins, re- 
minding one of a cloud of gnats. They continue hawking for 
late-flying insects, and, sporting with each other, till the ap- 
proach of darkness obliges them to settle down among the 
reeds. A good many of these birds roosted last summer in a 
large and thick-growing sallow overhanging the river here. 
Happening to pass close by on the evening of August 2, I dis- 
turbed a small party of them, which flew out over the water 
a little way, returning to the tree almost directly I had passed. 
Though too dark to see the birds themselves as they sat closely 
packed on the lower branches, the reflection of many of them 
was clearly visible in the still water below, cutting sharply 
against that of the sky, so clearly, indeed, that the swallows 
could by their elongated tail-feathers be easily distinguished 
from the rest. 
The pied wagtail is another bird which seeks the shelter of 
the reed beds at night. Assembling, sometimes in large num- 
bers towards dusk, flocks of them are seen restlessly flitting from 
place to place over the reeds, till they finally drop down beneath 
ihe level of the waving plumes and are hidden from sight. I 
have also seen family parties of yellow wagtails approaching such 
places in the evening, and have little doubt that they also roost 
among the reeds. 
A certain creek or inlet near the Suffolk coast, communicat- 
ing with the river Aide, and much overgrown with reeds, used 
to be a favourite nightly rendezvous for starlings. Shortly 
before nightfall flock after flock kept arriving, till an enormous 
number had collected. The wonderful aerial evolutions they 
went through before finally settling for the night was a sight not 
easily forgotten. At times the flocks would combine, forming so 
vast a multitude as almost to darken the sky, and the mighty 
rush of their myriad wings as they swept overhead was like the 
