EASTERN CROW 229 



white spruce twenty-five yards from me, so that I was able to watch them closely. 

 At about four- thirty every morning I awoke to the rattling song of the Crow, and 

 I often saw one flying about in irregular circles, singing and chasing another. 

 Both alighted on trees, especially on a spruce, from time to time. The song was 

 given in the air and from a perch, and once I heard it given as a whisper song. 

 I also heard for the first time at the end of the rattle a pleasmg sound which 

 suggested the cooing of a Pigeon or the note of a cuckoo dock, but softer and 

 more liquid. It was usually double — I wrote it down coi-ou or a single cou — 

 and generally repeated several times, although sometimes given only once. These 

 soft sounds, which I heard many times when the bird was near, generally fol- 

 lowed the rattle, but were often given independently. When the bird was perched, 

 he bowed and puffed out his feathers at the time of their delivery as during the 

 rattling song. The cooing was also given in the air and on one occasion, I saw 

 a bird drop slowly down with wings tilted up at an angle of forty-five degrees, 

 singing as he fell. The rattle song was once given fifty-four times in succession, 

 followed by a series of cons. 



The female was at times very importunate, calling slowly car car like a yoimg 

 bird begging for food. If the male approached, the calling would become more 

 and more rapid and end exactly as in the case of a young bird in a gurgle or 

 gargle — car, car, car, cowkle, cowkle, cozvkle. After mating the male would fly 

 to the next tree and call loudly cazv-cazu several times. Occasionally the loud 

 wa-ha-ha-ha was given. An examination of the nest made at this time showed 

 three heavily incubated eggs. 



Nesting. — In northern New England and the Maritime Provinces the 

 vast majority of the crowds nest in coniferous trees and those that I have 

 examined have ranged 18 to 60 feet from the ground. Of 22 nests ob- 

 served in Maine, 12 were in pines, 6 in spruces, 3 in firs, and only 1 in 

 a hardwood tree, an oak. A nest containing six eggs found on May 20, 

 1936, near Brunswick, Maine, is typical. It was in a large pine located 

 near the center of a 10-acre grove. The nest was built close to the 

 trunk of the tree and was supported by three good-sized horizontal 

 branches at a point 42 feet from the ground and approximately 30 feet 

 from the top of the tree. The foundation of the nest was made up of 

 branches and twigs of oak, beech, and pine, the largest ones were one- 

 fourth to three-eighths of an inch in diameter and 10 to 16 inches in 

 length. The nesting bowl was made up of smaller twigs interwoven with 

 strands of bark. The soft compact lining was entirely of finely separated 

 fibrils of bark, which apparently were shredded by the birds before 

 being placed in position. The foundation of nesting materials measured 

 22 by 26 inches, the depth of the nest from the upper rim to the base 

 was 9 inches, and the rim of the nest proper was 12 inches in diameter. 

 The interior of the nesting cup occupied by the bird was 6 by 7 inches 

 and its depth 4^^ inches. 



All the nests of the crow are substantial and well built ; they are crude 

 in general external appearance but always delicately and warmly lined. 

 The main departure from the type described above is the nature of the 



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