Roost (animal)

“ This winter roosting habit of the Crows is well-known, and many roosts have been located, but the habit seems still to lack a satisfactory explanation. Why should these birds fly back and forth every day over miles and miles of country to roost in some definite spot which, so far as we can judge, is no better suited for roosting purposes than hundreds of other places which they pass by? ”

“ A box or bin of wood-ashes should be placed in one corner of the roosting apartment, and kept always filled, and free from filth, for poultry to roll in and free themselves from vermin as far as possible.
The roost should be made so that the poles can be raised or let down at pleasure. In the winter, have the poles raised as high as may be, as the heat ascends, and the fowls need as warm a place as possible for winter. In summer, lower the roost, that they may sleep where the air circulates freely. ”

“ The usual roosting-places of these birds are among long grass in deserted fields, or dried stalks of corn, amid the stubble, or among the withered foliage of trees. They will return to favourite roosting-grounds from a considerable distance; but though a whole flock often settles in one locality, they seldom roost very near to each other, and if any one approach, even in the darkest night, will at once rise and take flight. ”

“ When these roosts are first discovered, the inhabitants from considerable distances visit them in the night with guns, clubs, long poles, pots of sulphur, and various other engines of destruction. In a few hours they fill many sacks, and load their horses with them. By the Indians, a pigeon roost or breeding place is considered an important source of national profit and dependence for the season, and all their active ingenuity is exercised on the occasion. ”

“ At night the Starlings that have kept company with the Rooks and Peewits all day retire to an ivy-clad tree or wall to roost. They may then be found occasionally in numbers up to a hundred or two; but these are only accidental gatherings—very different in character to the big roosts before-mentioned—and the birds do not travel any distance from their feeding-ground; they merely go to roost in the nearest convenient place. ”

“ Many of the large roosts farther north in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, seem to be rapidly decreasing in size, owing to thoughtless persecution, and eventually the poor birds may be driven to roost in scattered detachments, as would, indeed, seem best for their preservation ”

“ Otherwise confiding creatures, Swallows are careful to keep the exact location of their roost as much as possible a secret from the outer world. Neither the persons who live in the neighborhood of the marsh, nor the hunters who desecrate its sanctity, could tell you where - 117 - the Swallows roost. It requires the persistent efforts and full attention of the naturalist to show you where and how his favorite bird goes to rest and how it sets out and enters upon the duties and pleasures of another day. ”

“ In the morning, they rise with one accord from the roosts on which they have been standing all night on one leg, the other drawn up among the feathers of the abdomen, their neck retracted, and their head and bill buried beneath their scapulars. ”

“ Had it been dusk, the whole flock would have shot up into the air at the first startled quack—all but one, which would have stayed with the owl.
His favorite time for hunting is the hour after dusk, or just before daylight, when the birds are restless on the roost. No bird is safe from him then. The fierce eyes search through every tree and bush and bunch of grass. The keen ears detect every faintest chirp, or rustle, or scratching of tiny claws on the roost. Nothing that can be called a sound escapes them. ”

“ When thus spawning the roach are preyed on by rats—not the water-rat, but the house or drain rat. There are always a few of these about the lake, and they grow to an enormous size. They destroy the roach in great numbers. I have seen the sand strewn with dead fish opposite and leading up to their holes; for they catch and kill many more than they can eat, or even have time to carry away. I have shot at these great rascals when they have been swimming fifty yards from shore, and I strongly suspect them of visiting the nests of moorhens and other waterfowl with felonious purposes. ”

“ Individual specimens in cages, jars, or wide-mouth vials with cotton stoppers to admit air. Several roaches in large cages with material for food and concealment.
Observations. What is the general color and the average size of cockroaches? During what time of the day are roaches most active? Where do they hide at other times? How do their shape and color aid concealment? Note any odd or striking colors or marks which might make them distinguishable to their mates. Is the roach a quick or a slow moving animal? How does it get about,—by running, jumping, walking, crawling, swimming, or flying? ”

“ Morning-glories tie slender tendrils round the growing cane, and hang their delicate pink and blue cups on every blade, and in dewy mornings the glistening web of the field-spider is spread over all like a dazzling veil. Few of these beautiful flowers have any fragrance, but the air is always redolent with the odor of blooming and ripening fruits. Strange though it may appear, the brilliant-plumaged birds that frequent those woods are not singers. A rooster rarely crows unless he is of the fighting breed, and a hen never cackles when an egg is laid. ”

“ Jehosophat and Marmaduke love the big rooster best. The red comb on the top of his head has teeth like a carpenter's saw, and is so large it will not stand up straight. His white tail curves beautifully like the plumes on the hats of the circus ladies. When he throws back his head, puffs out his throat, and calls to the Sun, he is indeed a wonderful creature. ”

“ They usually move in long files, rather widely separated, and in an undulating manner, with constant flappings. When proceeding towards their roosts, or when on their migrations, they pass as high over the country as other species; on the former occasion, they pass and repass over the same tract, thus enabling the gunner easily to shoot them, which he may especially calculate on doing at the approach of night, when they are gorged with food, and fly lower than in the morning. ”

“ Whilst alighted, during these days of preparation, they spend the greater part of the time in dressing and oiling their feathers, cleaning their skins, and clearing, as it were, every part of their dress and body from the numerous insects which infest them. They remain on their roosts exposed to the night air, a few only resorting to the boxes where they have been reared, and do not leave them until the sun has travelled an hour or two from the horizon, but continue, during the fore part of the morning, to plume themselves with great assiduity. ”

“ They are very fond of blood, and to obtain this, they will sometimes destroy the occupants of a whole hen-roost, not caring to feed upon the bodies of the poultry which they have killed. They will climb trees, attack the old bird on its nest, suck the eggs, or carry off the young ”

“ They catch fish at any time they see a chance, but are most destructive during the spawning season, because then the roach come within reach. Such rats, too, haunt the ditches and mounds, and are as dangerous to all kinds of game as any weasel, crow, or hawk. ”

“ Sparrows killed just before they go to roost mostly have their crops full; their digestion is quick, and little or nothing is likely to be found in the crops of those caught at night at roost, or shot in the morning. The food goes a little at a time into the gizzards of old sparrows, and is there soon too much ground up to be worth examining; but in the crops the most delicate insect, if there, can be detected. ”

“ This is the animal sure to be selected by all learners, and the reason is not far to seek — it being of a manageable size, not too large nor too small; an animal, moreover, of a picturesque habit of body, and about whose death more or less of mystery hangs — this mystery so dear to the imagination of the youthful amateur! In some places the death of the vulpine robber of hen roosts is hailed with delight, and people are to be found even — oh, horror! ”

“ Suppose that when these roosters were small one of them had been caponized, that is, his glands had been removed, what would have been the result? The one not caponized would grow a large red comb, ear lobes and wattles, long glossy neck and tail feathers and long, strong spurs. In the case of the other bird, his comb, ear lobes and wattles, neck and tail feathers and legs would resemble an old hen that had not laid an egg for months. If food is scarce, the first bird will scratch for worms and catch insects for a living ”

“ Shelley tells me that he flushed a male from the nest tree, “where he clung each night about 3 feet above the nest hole, with the female brooding the young within.” Flickers will roost in any open cavity in a tree, or even in a partially sheltered spot on the open trunk; they often drill holes in barns or under the eaves of houses for winter roosts; a favorite winter roosting place is in the sawdust between the double walls of icehouses. Sometimes they dig a hole into a vacant building and fail to find their way out ”

“ There is our white rooster, the spirit of an old chief, which appears during the new moon—perfectly harmless and friendly, but the people rather dread him. Then we have a ghostly pig, very bad indeed; and a pair of malignant women, who walk about at night with arms and long hair entwined, and are suspected of ghastly appetites. ”

“ I never saw such a haughty rooster in my life. Actually, when I got out to feed him in the morning he would give me a cold, arrogant look that hurt my feelings. I know I'm not what you would call an educated man nor a polished man, though I claim to have a son that is both of said things, but I hate to have a rooster crow over me because he has had better advantages and better breeding than I have. So there was no love lost between us, as you can see.
Directly I noticed that the hen began to have spells of vertigo. ”

“ They then retire quietly to their roosts in the summits of the tall pines, and are not aroused until daylight streaks the east, when they come forth to feed as before. Thus I have observed them here, but will not say but that at other seasons, and in other situations, their habits may be different. They are now, however, very near the season of breeding, as the organs of the specimens I have examined sufficiently indicate. They appear fond of going in large bodies, and it is rare to see one alone in a tree. ”

“ These locusts are, as may be supposed, the great enemies to the farmers of these regions—their greatest, even before early and late frosts. Fortunately they do not come every year. We fell in with a few black bears and wolves, and with red deer and elks, buffaloes, and other wild animals, so that we had plenty of fresh meat for the table, besides wild fowl and fish, amongst which is a delicious variety of pike, named by the original French Canadians, from the peculiar formation of its mouth and head, Masque-alonge, Long-face. ”

“ If the she-one be caught carrying her young thus with her, she will suffer herself to be roasted alive, without the least sign of life, rather than open the pouch and expose her young ones. The flesh of this animal is very good, and tastes somewhat like that of a sucking pig, when it is first broiled, and afterwards roasted on the spit. ”

“ Jack may then be seen basking by the weeds.
When an exceptionally long continuance of dry weather forces all the fish to retire to the few acres of water that remain, then these voracious brutes do as they please with the other fish, and the roach especially suffer. Every two or three minutes the fry may be seen leaping into the air in the effort to escape, twenty or thirty at a time, and falling with a splash. The rush of hundreds and hundreds of roach causes a wave upon the surface which shows the course they take. ”

“ The fowls—a game rooster, a buff hen and a speckled pullet—hung in wicker baskets from wooden pegs at the back. They and the cow and her calf had wakened strange echoes in the forest, the rooster heralding every morning at dawn this advance guard of civilisation.
When the vehicle had reached the summit of the foothills, the track fell wavering into the green depths of the forest behind it, a wale of broken ferns, slain saplings, blue gums and myrtles, mown down as with a scythe by its wheels. ”

“ Another characteristic of these animals is a conspicuous rump patch composed of white hairs, longer than any found elsewhere on the body. Through development of certain muscles it is possible for the animal to erect these white hairs until they stand out stiffly forming a dazzling white rosette. ”

“ I have fired at that same fox to kill. I have lost many a rooster, but those I have not lost are many, many more. Browned to a turn, and garnished with parsley, a rooster is almost a poem. So was that wild fox, the other morning, almost a poem, standing on the bare knoll here near the house, his form half-shrouded in the early mist, his keen ears pricked, his pointed nose turned toward the yard where the hens were waking up. ”

“ Locusts are an intermittent plague. There are few earthworms or snails. The birds include eagles—some are called lammervangers from their occasional attacks on young lambs—vultures, hawks, kites, owls, crows, ravens, the secretary bird, cranes, a small white heron, quails, partridges, korhaans, wild geese, duck, and guineafowl, swallows, finches, starlings, the mossie or Cape sparrow, and the widow bird, noted for the length of its tail in summer. ”