Vol. 1 



iBirti = I.ore 



A BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE 

 DEVOTED TO THE STUDY AND PROTECTION OF BIRDS 



Official Organ of the Audubon Societies 



December, 1899 



No. 6 



A Search for the Reedy Island Crow Roost 



BY WITMER STONE 

 Curator ol Birds, Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. 



I 



N the Delaware river, just where 

 it begins to widen out into the 

 bay, and midway between the 

 shores of Delaware and New Jersey, 

 lie two long, low islands, known as 

 ' The Pea-patch' and ' Reedy Island. ' 

 Early in the century the former 

 of these was selected b}' the gov- 

 ernment as the site of Fort Dela- 

 ware, and its importance advanced 

 proportionately in the popular mind. 

 Later on. the lower island, which, 

 already boasted of a light-house, be- 

 came further dignified by the estab- 

 ishment of a quarantine station on 

 its banks. 



Although of little importance be- 

 fore the government claimed them, 

 these islands were by no means un- 

 inhabited, but were, in fact, well- 

 known as a winter resort. The 

 early inhabitants, though much less 

 imposing than the soldiers and health officers who have super- 

 seded them, did not fail to attract attention — even newspaper 

 notoriety : not from their individualities, but from their countless 

 numbers. In fact they were nothing more than ordinary despised 

 black Crows, but Crows in such countless numbers that they could 

 not fail to be noticed. 



AMERICAN CROW 

 I'liotugraplied from life by \V. Gordon Sniitli 



