128 NEST OF ' CLARK' S CROW.' 



impossible to obtain the seeds of some of the very 

 tall pines in any other way, a cruel system of col- 

 lecting I should ever discountenance, if the poor 

 birds were sacrificed merely with the hope of ob- 

 taining seeds from their crops. Those killed 

 were for specimens to bring home. A few win- 

 ter in British Columbia, but the larger propor- 

 tion go southward in September. On their 

 arrival in May, or early in June, they assemble 

 in immense flocks, and so terribly loud is the 

 noise they make, that you can hardly hear the 

 sound of your own or others' voice ; a most dis- 

 cordant, continuous, grating clatter, intensified 

 at times into a perfect shriek. These assemblies 

 only last about a week, during which time the 

 wooing is done, and marriages celebrated, the 

 favoured birds getting such fair ones as they 

 choose, the less fortunate such as they can. 



The pairs then depart, to perform the all-im- 

 portant duties of nesting. The nest I saw (I 

 never succeeded in finding more than one) was 

 in the top of a lofty pine-tree, at least 200 feet 

 high ; the tree was felled in cutting the Boundary 

 line, and by chance I discovered the nest. The 

 eggs were of course smashed to atoms, but the 

 old birds hovered round and even perched 

 on the ruins of their nursery, leaving no 



