Gewral Notes. 
 
plainly audible to me, starting two or three minutes before Civil Twilight
(28 minutes 
before sunrise) at light of .2 foot-candles. 
The light at official sunrise on nine mornings that I called clear ranged
from 27.5 
to 44 foot-candles, the median being 36.5; on two cloudy mornings it was
19.5 and 22. 
The light at sunset on two clear evenings was 33 and 35.5 foot-candles; on
two 
slightly cloudy evenings 28 and 29, and on one really cloudy evening 22.

The first flight of Starlings on seven clear mornings left the roost 10 to
14 minutes 
before sunrise, the median being 11 minutes; light values ranged from 7 to
9.9 foot- 
candles, median 7.5. On the one cloudy morning they left 5 minutes before
sunrise 
at 9.9 foot-candles. The date on which they left 14 minutes before sunrise
was the 
exceptionally clear morning of October 12, when the light at sunrise amounted
to 44 
foot-candles. From the 8th to the 13th (except for the cloudy morning of
the 10th) 
the first flight took place at from 7.0 to 7.6 foot-candles, but on October
14 and 15 
the light values were 9.9 and 8.2 foot-candles; these mornings were markedly
cooler 
than the others. 
The largest flocks left on clear mornings from 10 to 4 minutes before sunrise
at 
light values of 12 to 25 foot-candles, and on the cloudy morning one minute
after 
sunrise at 22 foot-candles, the majority of the birds leaving between 20
and 25 foot- 
candles. The last flocks left from one to eleven minutes after sunrise at
light values 
ranging from 44 to 85 foot-candles. 
As to the Grackles on seven clear mornings their first flights left from
7 to 9 minutes 
before sunrise at light values of 13 to 16 foot-candles (median 14); on one
cloudy 
morning they left 3 minutes before sunrise at a light value of 13.5 foot-candies.
On 
the very clear morning of October 12 the first birds left exceptionally early-13

minutes before sunrise at a light value of only 8.5 foot-candles. 
Curiously enough one or two Grackles that roosted alone not far from our
house 
made their first flights very much earlier: on clear mornings from 15 to
21 minutes 
before sunrise at light values of 1.2 to 4.8 foot-candles, and on the cloudy
morning 11 
minutes before sunrise at 3.8 foot-candles. Since there was a deafening din
from the 
roost for a full half hour before sunrise, it is clear that the birds are
awake for some 
time before they fly. It is interesting how the solitary individuals started
out so 
much earlier than the sociable members of the species. 
The largest flocks of Grackles left at light values of 20.5 to 29 foot-candles,
the 
median being 22; on clear mornings they left from two to seven minutes before
sun- 
rise, on the cloudy day one minute after sunrise. The last flocks were recorded
at 
about the same times as the Starlings. 
In the evenings the first flocks of both species were seen about one-half
hour be- 
fore sunset. The largest flocks passed over from 14 to 9 minutes before sunset
on 
clear evenings and from 16 to 5 minutes before on more or less cloudy evenings.

Light values ranged from 114 to 40 foot-candles, but the height usually occurred

between 65 and 52 foot-candles. The flight ended just about sunset-from one

minute before to three after. 
This study covered a period of ten days only; observations on Starlings should
be 
made throughout the year, as V. C. Wynne-Edwards (British Birds, 1931, 24,
pp. 
346-353) found a decided seasonal difference in the time of leaving the roost
in 
southern England, the birds flying very early on December mornings and late
in 
February and March. 
My observations have shown that the first Starlings left the roost at lower
light 
values than did the Grackles; that the flocks of Grackles were much later
than single 
birds of this species; and that leaving the roost and returning to it were
very closely 
correlated in both species with light.-MARGARET M. NicE, Columbus, Ohio.