17^ Bird -Lore 



Every evening they came at dusk by thousands and tens of 

 thousands, winging their way in long lines from all points of the 

 compass, and settling down on the reed-covered islands in a solid 

 black phalanx. This winter roosting habit of the Crows is well- 

 known, and many roosts have been located, but the habit seems 

 still to lack a satisfactory explanation. Why should these birds fly 

 back and forth every day over miles and miles of country to roost 

 in some definite spot which, so far as we can judge, is no better 

 suited for roosting purposes than hundreds of other places which 

 they pass by ? And why should they gather together every night in 

 such numbers as to attract general attention and invite slaughter by 

 thoughtless gunners, when, by roosting in small numbers wherever 

 they happen to be feeding, they would escape notice ? These are 

 questions I shall not attempt to solve. 



Estimates placed the number of Crows in these two island roosts 

 at half a million, and they held possession of the islands undis- 

 turbed until about the time of the establishment of Fort Delaware. 

 They did not relish this intrusion, and determined to desert the 

 ancestral Pea-patch roost ; being also influenced, no doubt, by a storm 

 which flooded the island at night and drowned thousands of the 

 unfortunate birds. 



The Reedy Island roost continued in use until the establishment 

 of the Quarantine Station, at a much later day ; then it, too, was de- 

 serted, and the famous island roosts were no more. 



I have long been interested in the winter gatherings of the 

 Crows, and made inquiry of the light-keeper at Reedy Island to as- 

 certain whether any Crows at all remained there at the present time. 

 I was informed that they came across from Delaware as of old in 

 long flights from the west, northwest and southwest, but all passed 

 over the island into New Jersey, where he judged they had estab- 

 lished new winter quarters. 



The location of this new roost at once became a matter of in- 

 terest. By further inquiry I learned that Crows at Salem, N. J., 

 nearly opposite the Pea-patch, flew southwards at evening, and by 

 plotting this flight line with those given by the light-house keeper,. 

 on a map, I found that they joined some four or five miles below 

 Salem, and here I felt sure the roost was to be found. 



I had little trouble in impressing an ornithological friend, who 

 resided at Salem, with the importance of locating this roost, and 

 one cold afternoon in January found us driving off in the direction 

 taken by the Salem Crow flight. 



When we neared the point at which we thought the roost ought 

 to be, we noticed a scattered line of Crows coming up from the 



