THE MUSEUM. 



15 



thedral, etc., every front being built 

 around, and the square much frequent- 

 ed. At a later date, the same gentle- 

 man informs me that he has heard of 

 a nest established among the trees of 

 Independence Square right in the 

 heart of the oldest portion of the city. 

 It would surprise me little to learn 

 that this was correct and that this 

 saucy bird had raised its young within 

 touch of the "Cradle of Liberty." 



Mr. A. H. Norton. Westbrook, 

 Maine, writes: "The first nests that I 

 have found each season, have been 

 built in trees at the border of an open- 

 ing or grove, where the snow has dis- 

 appeared. The point of the compass 

 not, as might seem probable, having 

 influence. The Southern exposure re- 

 ceives the sun's action,, but the wind 

 and water frequently are as rapid in* 

 melting the snow from northern or 

 north-western exposures. The bird 

 seems to like the sunshine (or society) 

 and avoids the deeper woods." Mr. 

 Henry Vv. Carriger, Sonoma, Cal., 

 has found the nesting sites extremely 

 varable, finding them in deep woods, 

 groves, and along sloughs. He writes: 

 "Previous to 1891, about ten pairs 

 nested in a grove of young while oaks, 

 but in 1892 not a nest was- to be found 

 there. The birds had -gone, for some 

 unknown cau-e, to a large giain field, 

 about four hundred yards distant, 

 where they built their nests in large 

 white caks." Mr. Edmund Heller, 

 Riverside, Cal., states that the Crows 

 in that vicinity nests only on the bot- 

 tom lands, never in the canons nor on 

 the mesa. Large tracts in that sec- 

 tion are without their quota of birds. 

 Mr. Samuel L. Bacon, Erie, Pa., 

 writes: "My observations lead me to 

 believe that if unmolested, a pair of 



Crows will nest in the same vicinity for 

 many years if not for a lifetime. To 

 corroborate this belief, I will say that 

 a pair of Crows (presumably the same 

 pair) have nested for the past four 

 years in one piece of woods, and these 

 fonr nests are within two hundred feet 

 of each other. In these woods, which 

 covers about three acres, there are the 

 remains of at least ten other nests, and 

 I feel sure they were built by the same 

 pair." Mr. C. W. Crandall has usual- 

 ly found them breeding in low woods, 

 with parts swampy or containing a 

 small pond, on Long Island N. Y. 

 He also gives some notable situations: 

 One nest fifty feet from a habitation, 

 in a gigantic elm, at the roadside, an- 

 other, one hundred feet from group of 

 houses, another not more than thirty 

 feet from a railroad in constant use; 

 another, one hundred feet from a nest 

 of Red-shouldered Hawk. Mr. Lionel 

 F. Bowers, Columbia, Pa., and Mr. 

 Arthur H. Norton, Westbrook, Me., 

 have found their nests situated in the 

 midst of Black-crowned Night Heron 

 colonies. I have found them close to 

 the nests of the Cooper's and Broad- 

 winged Hawks, which they will rob 

 if left uncovered for any length of time; 

 and also in one instance . within a few 

 yards of a Grey Squirrel's nest. 



Position. — The nest is usually placed 

 in ihe upright fork or crotch of a tree, 

 not seldom on a horizontal branch, 

 at no great distance from the 

 • main .=tem. Mr. C. W. Crandall dis- 

 covered a nest on Long Island, N. Y. , 

 in a most peculiar and unique position. 

 In his own words: "Looking from the 

 brow of a hill some thirty feet high, I 

 discovered a nest situated in the fork 

 of a chestnut tree, which was .at the 

 base of the hill, the nest being placed 



