Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-18
RESTING PLACES OF BIRDS.
Their Preference for Dead Branches
Where Animals Like Best to Sleep.

From the LONDON Spectator
Like most animals. birds have three forms
OF more or less permanent abiding place,
Their nests are their homes in the spring
and early summer. on which all their ener.
giles are concentrated. Their sleeping homes
vary during the year. except those OF The
clif-hunting hawks and falcons, the sea.
fowl, including the gulls and cormorants,
| and the two species of wild pigeon. which
prefer to roost as well as to nest IN holes
and caverns.
! Lastly, like very many mammals. ana
some even of our most beautiful butterflies,
| they have their resting places, taking the
| place of outdoor parlors or assembly rooms,
or serving them, il they want quiet, as q
sort Of club library (Which scoffers have
been known to speak Of slightingly as the
dormitory'), where they can sit alope-and
think.
AS resting place by day nearly all birds
prefer not close thicket embowered In
trees, Dut as rule the most exposed tom
or dead branch. Best of all is a dead tree
every part of which is withered, pertains
as the result of lightning. On most English
iakeS, whether IN parks or embowered in
woods, there Is some favorte tree of thIs
Klnd, on which heron, or a large hawk.
or even sea eagle. in the visits which
tnese birds occasionally pay TO such pla ces
always sits, if II be In the neighborhood
rms Is the case of one of the fine Essex
lakes. which was haunted by a pair Of
oSpreys for several weeks last year and
near which the heron, the buzzard and tina
eagle have all been seen sitting on the
same tall and withered branch. projecting
above the surrounding wood, and just al
the lake head. 1t does not matter what
the tree is. If only It Is dead, or has a dead
branch convenient for perching upon. Ono
reason may be that these branches are de-.
void OF bark. and therefore plea SAINT to ths
touch Of the birds feet
On Scotch moor the bustard always by
preference sits on such a tree and In Eng.
fish woodlands the wood pigeons do the
same A person skilled In the art of decoy.
! Ing wild pigeons within shot will always
fasten his dummy birds TO the top branches
OF dead tree, not to those with living
branches.
The present writer has for some years
kept. In spite of circumstances. an abso-
lutely dead weeping willow OF some size
In front of the house. on lawn by the
river. 1t consists now only of trunk the
mere framework of graceful tree, o
kind OF monument in memory of what IL
once was. But the place OF leaves and
branches is taken by another form OF life.
The birds use it as their favorite resting
place, and have made II a kind of avian
club.
In the early mornings the thrushes and
hedge sparrows sing there TO ,4e sunrise.
In the evenings, especially in the late sumo
mer and early autumn, IL is the place where
migrating birds gather to bid the sun good
night. Sometimes as many as forty wag-
tails assemble there in their migrations up
or down the Thames, and twitter TIL they
go to reost in the osier bed near. Swallows
and martins take their young broods there
to feed them, and perhaps teach them to
/ fly from the easy vantage ground OF the
bare dead boughs. The swallow tribe have
a very great liking for dead branches as
resting places. Often they may be heard
uttering their little twittering song appar-
emily from the thick foliage Of chestnut or
elm. But IL the exact place Is sought. It
will be seen that they are occupying dead
branchlet. even If IL be only few feet long
and quite low down near the ground.
Since telegraph swires were Invented they
have realized that man is, indeed a bene-
factor for he not only erects houses ex.
pressly for martins to build nests against
but also sets up thousands OF miles OF
perches exactly OF the size which suits their
tiny feet and claws This fact mas been ap.
preciated also by the board school children,
who. after being sent into the country for
holidays, are told to write about what they
saw The swallows, which live on teies
graph wires" figure largely In these remi-
niscences.
the evening, and is quite different from
roosting time. Guas nearly always fly
little way inland, and rest perfectly still
on some sloping grassfield or ploughland
on which the rays Of the evening sun fall.
and In the long summer evenings rocks
will do the same before going TO bed.
Starliugs prefer chimney pot to any
other place. Wild ducks OF all kinds the
sioping bank OF pool where the land
shelves gradually down to the water. In
decoy ponds such resting places are made
artidciaIly, near the mouths of the pipes.
Though most of our wild animals are
nocturnal certain Of them have day rest.
ing places. Rabbits choose sunny banks
to sit on by day. and In the spring foxes
often lie out in rough grass to enjoy tho
sun, and even offers will go to sleep in a
bed of dry sedges quite In the open Our
domestic animals are often very nice In
their selection Of an outdoor resting place.
London cats seeking sun and quiet climb
up on TO the tops of the water tanks In
their own or their neigifbors' back yards
In the country cats often find warm
flower bed under a wal and curl up there.
st. John noticed thst Scotch terriers were
particularly fond Of iin1ing a flower border
In which to sleep by Cay. Our sheep have
lost nearly all the wild instincts but one,
which 10 to seek the highest possible place
In order to lie down and rest. On Canvey
Island, which Is as fiat as table the pres
emit writer saw two old rams asleep on the
top OF a mound, probably the highest place
In tho island. and on Thorpe Cloud, the biz
hill In Dovedale, the sheep 60 to the very