46 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis 



the sand, and whon snow was on the gruunci, on the snow. 

 After tliey had left in the morning one conld see every 

 spot wliere a Crow had spent the niglit; a round depres- 

 sion (if n])out six inches in diameter, fhinked on tlie lee 

 side by a few droppings of excreta and on the wind side 

 by a few holes in the snow made by the bird's bill. When 

 Illinois began paying a bounty for Crows their number 

 dwindled down ra])idly, and in the past ten years there 

 were no crows flying over the city and one has to go to 

 the Missouri Riv^er region to see flocks of crows in winter. 



The most interesting winter loost in the vicinity of St. 

 Louis is that of the Red-winged Blackbird, a place where 

 thousands of them come together every evening to spend 

 the night in company, while they scatter far and wide in 

 search of food during the day. The roost is on sandy 

 land between the Creve C'oeur Lake and St. Charles 

 bridge. The ])lace is overgrown witli scouring rushes, 

 Equiseium hicwnlf, which during tlie summer reaches a 

 height of two to three feet. Tn the fall the stems break, 

 and in leaning over in all directions form a matted mass 

 under which small animals find the best possible resting 

 plac(^ in winter. The ground being sandy absorbs rain 

 (}ui<kly, snow remains mostly on the mattecl mass and a 

 freezing i-aiii makes the shelter <'ven more secure. 



I'ndei- these rushes the Ixedwings spend tlie coldest, 

 windiest nights in |ierfect comfort, and it is only lack of 

 food that rcfluees their number when di^ep snow covers 

 tlit'ir feeding grounds, fields and pastures, where animals 

 are kept or cornlields where coimi is left in shocks or on 

 the stem, hiniiig the day not a hird is seen aliout this 

 roost, the birds crossing over the livcr to spread over 

 St. Charles and neighboring counties, but in the ev«'ning 

 before sunset they come in long streams, pouring into the 

 adjoining timber before going to the rushes, which is 

 done only when dusk is settling over the region. Most 

 of tliese T?edwings belong to tliat subs])ecies or geo- 

 graphic race that breeds in the Cnited States, but in the 



