1555 R. Eden Two Viages into Guinea in tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 353 We mette northerly wyndes and greate roostynge of tydes.

1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry iv. f. 162^v Agaynst euery nest and rousting place, place steppes and boordes to come vp by.

1604 M. Drayton Owle sig. F4^v By all signes..The Birds therein there nightly roosting made.

1667 R. Steele Antidote Against Distractions ii. 24 Though we cannot hinder the Birds from flying over our heads, yet we may disturb their roosting or making Nests in our hair.

1713 W. Derham Physico-theol. vii. i. 378 The Legs, all curved for their easy Perching, Roosting, and Rest.

?1780 Farmer's Wife 16 Pins should be stuck in the walls, for the greater convenience of the poultry getting up to their places of roosting.

1821 J. Scott Sketches French Provinces, Switzerland, & Italy iii. 30 Every room on the ground-floor had one or two looms, three or four beds, and the litter occasioned by the roosting of fowls and ducks.

1858 W. M. Thackeray Virginians I. xxiii. 180 It is not yet light, and roosting is as yet better than singing.

1914 M. S. Watts Rise of Jenny Cushing (1915) ii. ii. 227 The family..spent the cold months in Florida and the Bermudas, the hot ones at their seashore place, with..occasional roostings for a week or so at the Saint Simon on their flights across the country.

1934 Times 21 Dec. 15/6 In winter afternoons..we see and hear more of the roosting of birds than at other seasons of the year.

1993 Canad. Geographic Mar. 61 (caption) Old-growth forests..provide many of the high perches that eagles favour for roosting and nesting.

1820 W. Scott in J. G. Lockhart Mem. Life Sir W. Scott (1837) IV. 376 A great deal of valuable fir planting, which you may remember; fine roosting for the black game.

1820 London Lit. Gaz. 29 July 491/2 Livelier sound the farm-yard cocks, Crowing, crowing round about, As if to point their roostings out.

1868 J. S. Le Fanu Lost Name II. v. 45 The crows had glided..across the yellow and sea-green sky of evening, home to their leafy roostings in the forest of Wynderfel.

1963 T. Hughes How Whale Became 11 ‘Here is good roosting,’ said Owl. ‘I will awaken you at dawn.’

2002 Independent (Nexis) 25 Apr. 16 Complaints wing in from Newcastle to Brighton about their [sc. starlings'] crowded..roostings.

1914 H. R. Lewis Productive Poultry Husb. viii. 145 This divides the roosting area into separate compartments, which are often called ‘closets’.

2004 J. Kingston Japan's Quiet Transformation v. 147 Wetlands' role in..serving as..feeding and roosting areas for migratory birds.

1933 Amer. Game Jan.–Feb. 10/2 The roosting behavior of the various flocks is indicated in Table IV.

2005 Independent (Nexis) 29 Nov. 58 He meticulously studied and recorded the breeding, hunting and roosting behaviour of the hen harrier.

1914 Official Guide Eastern Asia (Imperial Japanese Govt. Railways) III. 233 There are two kinds of baskets for holding the cormorants. In carrying them to the fishing-ground..the birds are put in a bamboo cage..divided into two compartments, each holding two birds. The roosting cage is a little smaller and contains a pair.

2006 K. R. Welle & A. U. Luescher in A. U. Luescher Man. Parrot Behavior xviii. 215/1 Each morning the bird can be transported to the larger cage and each evening to the roosting cage.

a1873 H. L. Saxby Birds of Shetland (1874) 380 Roosting habits of the Finches.

1960 H. Friedmann Parasitic Weaverbirds 122 In the Somerville area of Cape Province, Godfrey..recorded similar nocturnal roosting habits.

2006 Jrnl. Wildlife Managem. 70 1186/2 I reviewed a variety of literature on roosting habits of Indiana bats.

1813 J. Farey Gen. View Agric. Derbyshire II. 10 Inner Poulterer's Yard... Poulterer's Shop... Roosting House.

1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm I. 153 An opening..in the outer wall of the roosting-house.

1920 Times 12 July 11/4 With the older type of closed roosting house, with ventilation at the top,..each fowl requires a minimum air space of 10 cubic feet.

2008 F. L. Davis Christian's Warfare vii. 159 Normally all of the chickens and roosters would sense rain and make their way to the roosting house to wait it out.

1674 C. Cotton Compl. Gamester xxxviii. 216 In especial manner take care that your Cocks roosting-Perch be not too small in the gripe, or so ill placed that he cannot sit without stradling.

1840 Penny Cycl. XVIII. 477/1 The first roosting-perch..should be placed lengthways.

1998 T. K. Shrestha Spiny Babbler 21 They retire to rest in roosting perches where they huddle along a branch keeping close bodily contact.

1860 J. J. Hooper Dog & Gun ix. 69 The hunters..get out with their luggage, late in the afternoon, near some roosting ponds.

1874 J. W. Long Amer. Wild-fowl Shooting ix. 161 In the evening the ducks will be seen coming from the roosting-ponds.

1932 Aiken (S. Carolina) Jrnl. & Rev. 20 Jan. Hunters locate a roosting pond and station themselves by it, shooting the ducks as they fly in.

1999 H. Angel How to photograph Water iv. 98/2 (caption) Sandhill cranes..silhouetted at dawn on roosting pond at Bosque del Apache Refuge, New Mexico.

1863 Zoologist 21 8810 For a fortnight they merely made it their roosting-site for the day.

1992 National Trust Mag. Summer 29/1 The estuary is developed right up to the edge on the Plymouth side, so there's a lack of roosting sites for the waders during winter.

1825 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Agric. ii. ii. viii. 305 Without any regard to the comfort of the particular kinds by attending to their peculiarities, such as..the proper size of roosting sticks for the toed feet of the other tribes.

1897 Naugatuck (Connecticut) Daily News 26 Oct. Some of the birds will manage to roost on the side rail to which the roosting sticks are fastened.

1927 W. de la Mare Told Again 287 The hens on their roosting-sticks.

a1627 T. Middleton & W. Rowley Changeling (1653) iv. sig. F2^v At roosting time a little lodge can hold 'em.

1742 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandman July xvi. 99 I..took the Hen and her Young, at Roosting-Time.

1825 C. Waterton Wanderings in S. Amer. 119 All the Toucanets feed on the same trees... You will find it has only been a dinner party, which breaks up and disperses towards roosting time.

1953 Brit. Jrnl. Animal Behaviour 1 91/1 In England the changes in the roosting times [of Great Tits] are similar to those in the north but less marked.

2008 Evening Standard (Nexis) 4 Apr. a39 Parker's solos..swoop and soar like flocking birds at roosting time.

1811 Rural Visiter 25 Feb. 162/1 When he Makes treble crowing on the roosting tree?

1879 R. Jefferies Wild Life 281 They [sc. rooks] stretch from here to the roosting-trees.

1992 Internat. Wildlife May–June 10 (caption) Bats often drop seeds under roosting trees, which in turn shelter the young cactus seedlings.

1685 J. Crowne Sir Courtly Nice Epil. sig. A4 ^v Our Gallerys too, were finely us'd of late, Where roosting Masques sat cackling for a Mate.

1765 W. Stevenson Orig. Poems I. iii. 218 See him steal faithless, when night's shadows fall, Where your warm feather'd fam'ly roosting sit.

1798 R. Bloomfield Autumn in Farmer's Boy xlii From each bough The roosting Pheasant's short but frequent crow Invites to rest.

1813 W. Scott Rokeby v. 207 Hoarse into middle air arose The vespers of the roosting crows.

1886 Daily News 24 Sept. 5/2 They..startle from its crumbling recesses the roosting doves.

1941 P. White Diary 23 Jan. in Lett. (1994) ii. 37 The pelican tree: a large rare tree, pure white from the droppings of roosting pelicans.

1958 K. Nelson & C. Ford Klondy: Daughter Gold Rush vii. 113 The dogs rushed pell-mell through a flock of roosting ptarmigan.

2002 S. Pearson in Writing Wrongs 138 With a clack of fear, a roosting plover flew up in Gibbie's face, showering its heathery bower with soft breast feathers.