22 



Trn)is. Acml. Sci. r»l' St. Lums 



tlif vast sandbar at the foot of the island with innumer- 

 abk* l)lack <l<)ts, and as many more a.iifain stay (ui the \i\r^Q 

 ice fieKl which stretches now alontr the shallow eastern 

 shore like a continuation of tlie sandl>ar. 



Here tliey aic on the bare ice I'rcMii 4 p. m. till 7 a. ni., 

 iifteen lon<j: hours, with temperature near zero, exposed 

 to the fieive wind without any shelter at all. Ifow tlicy 

 can stand it is more than I know, and althou;rh I have 

 found frozen Crows, and Ci'ows willi stumped toes as 

 reminiscenoes of foiiner exiterienccs, I still believe, as a 

 rub', they stand tlie rijj^ors of our winter quite welb Tlie 

 first sunnv mild dav, and innnediatelv after the col(U'st 

 sj)ens, the Crow thinks of courting, and shows all sii^ns 

 of an amorous Crow wliose love is not l»y our tempera- 

 tures refrigerated. 



This courtini^ is done openly, in broad daylight, so- 

 cially, gracefully. The Crows gather on a sunny hillside 

 or some similarly favorable ])lace, and talk to eadi other 

 in the softest crow language; one flies straight up into the 

 air, soars for a moment, floats gracefully down, cheered 

 by the rest, amidst which he alights to see others do what 

 he did. 



As soon as the weather becomes mild and the ground 

 free from snow and ice, the Crows begin to disperse. This 

 is generally not before P\»bruary, and sometimes quite 

 late in that month, but by the middle of March their 

 ranks are thinnec] out verv much, and few are left after 

 the first of April, (b'lierally, their departuri' is not i)ar- 

 ticularly noticed, it being a continuation of their daily 

 Higlit, failing to return to the roost in the evening. 



But sometimes T have seen two birds flying together in 

 a northerly direction, even in the afternoon, and right 

 against the incoming stream of Crows. These I t^ike for 

 absconders, ready to <lisi)ense with sociability, the two 

 being enough company by themselves. With the begin- 

 ning of tlie breeding season the liistorv of the common 



