Observations of the dust and gas around embedded stellar clusters reveal some of the processes involved in their formation and evolution .
Large scale mass infall with rates \dot { M } \simeq 4 \times 10 ^ { -4 } ~ { } M _ { \odot } yr ^ { -1 } is found to be disrupted on small scales by protostellar outflows .
Observations of the size and velocity dispersion of clusters suggest that protostellar migration from their birthplace begins at very early times and is a potentially useful evolutionary indicator .