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and a mate. I know it was the bird that hatched from an egg the previous summer, for both of the adults were banded.
A bird sleeps with its head and neck on its back, with the bill buried in the shoulder feathers, thus protecting its eyes. Muscle contraction locks the feet on a perch.
A number of species roost in big flocks — what ornithologists term aggregates. This a protection from predators; there is safety in numbers. Enormous flocks of birds gather in winter in selected roosting spots — often groves of thick evergreens. These aggregates of thousands of | birds include grackles, robins, cowbirds, red-winged blackbirds and starlings.
Observing these roosts is an awesome sight as the birds stream in to the trees at sunset. After a short period of squeals and chirps in which the birds jockey for perching space, all is silent as darkness descends on the grove of evergreens. ----*- j
Write Virginia naturalist John 7Yott care of this newspaper: P.O. Box 59, Washington, Va., 22701.
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