EASTERN CROW 253 



It was the last of these rivers that on a cold December afternoon with a biting 

 wind from the northwest I first studied. * * * It was an impressive sight. About 

 3 o'clock the Crows began to appear, singly and in small groups, beating their 

 way in the teeth of the wind towards the north. In flying over the estuary of the 

 Castle Neck River they kept close to the water as if to take advantage of the 

 lee behind the waves ; over the land they clung to the contour of the dunes. As 

 we walked among these waves of sand the Crows often appeared suddenly and 

 imexpectedly over the crest of a dune within a few feet of us. Silently for the 

 most part, except for the silken rustle of their wings, they flew over in increasing 

 numbers until it was evident that they were to be counted, not by hundreds, but 

 by thousands. Many of them alighted on the dunes to the south of the roosting 

 place; sand, bushes and stunted bare trees were alike black with them. Others 

 assembled on the bare hillside to the east. About sunset a great tumult of corvine 

 voices issued from the multitude, — a loud cawing with occasional wailing notes, — 

 and a black cloud rose into the air and settled in the branches of the bare trees 

 to the west of the roost. From here as it was growing dusk they glided into the 

 evergreens for the night. 



The last day of the year 1916, I spent with Dr. W. M. Tyler in the dunes. The 

 wind was fresh from the northwest, — the temperature was 15° Far. at 6:30 a.m., 

 18° at noon and 20° at 6 p.m. As early as one o'clock in the afternoon a few 

 Crows were seen struggling north over and close to the surface of the dunes. Others 

 were noticed flying high and towards the south. This southerly flight came 

 from over Castle Hill to the north, passed the roost and continued on over the 

 dunes. At half-past three some of these birds, which were apparently turning 

 their backs on their usual night's lodging place, met with a large company coming 

 from the south and all settled together in the dunes about two miles south of the 

 roost. Some of the birds coming from the north, however, settled in the bare 

 fields by the roost, and their numbers here were augmented by a stream from the 

 west. This concourse on the hillside set up a great tumult of cawings just before 

 four o'clock. At five minutes after four the united multitude of northerners and 

 southerners rose from their meeting place in the dunes and flew low to join 

 their noisy brethren on the hillside. This river of black wings from the south was 

 a continuous one and it was joined just before its debouch on the hillside by the 

 stream from the west. The river from the north had split into two layers: the 

 lower flying birds came to rest on the hill, — the higher flying ones favored by the 

 strong northwest wind, continued on their way south, notwithstanding the great 

 current that was sweeping north below them. They joined their comrades in the 

 dunes and retraced their steps. No signs of starvation and impaired vigor in these 

 unnecessary flights, or in the game of tag in which two or more of the birds 

 at times indulge! 



The pace is now fast and furious. The birds are anxious to get within touch 

 of the roost before it is dark but none have yet entered it. At 4:15 p.m., 135 

 birds pass in a minute from the south alone on their way to join the concourse on 

 the hillside. A little later tliis southern river becomes so choked with birds that 

 it is impossible to count them. From our point of vantage in a spruce thicket 

 on the hill we can see that this flock stretches for two miles into the dunes and it 

 takes them four minutes to pass. The speed of flight, therefore, must be roughly 

 about thirty miles an hour. At 4:15 p.m. the sun sets, but in the yellow glow of the 

 cloudless sky the birds can be seen pouring by from the west and south. The 

 bulk of the stream from the north now comes to rest on the hillside for only 

 occasionally can a crow be seen flying to the south over the heads of the southern 

 stream. 



