Proponents of the various hypotheses explaining the evolution of avian communal roosting behavior have been consistent in agreeing that, while several benefits may be derived from such behavior, there exists 1 principal benefit that can be considered the driving force behind the behavior. The views of these proponents diverge when it comes to identifying the principal benefit of communal roosting. The most recent of these hypotheses which invokes information exchange as the principal roost function (Ward and Zahavi 1973) is examined. To reconcile shortcomings of this hypothesis with the available evidence, a new hypothesis is examined based on the premise that not all individuals participate in the roost for the same reason. Because dominance status is related to food-finding ability, subordinate birds use roosts to identify and follow dominant individuals to food. Dominant birds tolerate this information parasitism because their status affords them not only preferred access to food patches but more importantly, access to central (or higher) perches which are buffered from predation by the surrounding subordinate individuals in the roost. Application and predictions of this hypothesis are discussed.