Bird Roosts
As I passed the holly hush, my foot was turned on a piece of rock on the path and I collided with the bush, whereupon a score of sparrows burst out and went whirring away to some bare trees at a distance from where I stood. It was not long before dark and I wondered what would happen to the birds deprived of their roosting place. Would they return to the bush before dark or go on to roost individually in the less comfortable perching places in the pines ? I could not wait to find out, for I had other things to do, but when I came back in the half-light I peered into the holly. There was no rustle and no. movement of nervous birds and I concluded that they had not returned. On other occa- sions I have looked at roosts and discovered that they are occupied until circumstances make the birds seek new quarters. A change in the wind will make them give up roosting. in the ivy of a particular wall, and when a cat finds that they sleep in a tree and kills one of their number, they, abandon the tree as a roost. Mass roosting gives some special comfort to a flock of birds in winter but there are always a few that prefer to roost alone. Such a one is the sparrow I see coming into the eaves each. evening. He has found a warm hole and prefers it to all the holly hushes and all the ivy-wrapped trees in the locality.
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