240 



MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



dropping down by tipping first to one side and tlien to the otlier, tliey all alight 

 in the pines or in the adjoining hickory trees. Silently they sit in the hickory 

 trees, twenty or thirty together, and then one by one dive swiftly into the pines 

 for the night. 



One beautiful winter evening in late January, I remained quietly in this 

 grove of pines and saw the Crows drop in to the trees above me. Although 

 they made no cawing, except once when disturbed by my presence, scraps of 

 conversational tones could be heard from time to time. Frightened away just 

 after sunset they refused to return, although I waited until it was nearly dark, 

 so they must have adapted themselves to another roost for that night. There 

 were perhaps 150 Crows in all. 



While the birds are so abundant among the salt marshes and on the 

 shore in the winter, a few miles back in the country one may count only fifteen 

 or twenty Crows in the course of a day's tramp. The reason as before stated 

 is of course the greater abundance of food exposed by the sea and its compara- 

 tive scarcity in country covered with snow and ice. 



The pellets ejected by the Crows are to be found at all seasons, but in 

 summer they soon crumble and lose their identity. In winter they retain their 

 form in a frozen condition, and moreover are very noticeable objects on the snow 

 as well as on the white sand. The pellets are from i inch to 2| inches long by 

 ^ to I of an inch broad, tapering to rounded points at both ends, and weighing 

 when dried, from i to 3 drachms each. In a group of 16 pellets collected on 

 February isth, 1903, the following contents were identified: 925 bayberries 

 {Myrica carolincnsis), a few with the waxy coat still on, some partly denuded, 

 but the majority entirely denuded of the wa.xy coat, and a few split open or with 

 holes in the end. It is evident that the Crow is therefore a large planter of bay- 

 berries, as most of these seeds were viable. Also 1 1 3 cranberries ( Vacmiiiim 

 macrocarpon), many whole, many merely the skins, and many in small fragments 

 so that the exact number of berries is difficult to estimate ; numerous cranberry 

 seeds ; 14 staghorn sumach seeds {Rhus typhina) ; 7 poison sumach %^^A^{Rlius 

 venenata); 36 smooth sumach seeds {Rhus glabra) ; 2 bones of a small mam- 

 mal ; 58 intact shells of Mclamptts lincatus, a gastropod very common in the 

 salt marshes ; 1 8 broken shells of Melampus ; 5 intact shells of a periwinkle 

 {Litoriiia rudis), and one broken shell of the same ; 2 intact valv-es of a small 

 specimen of mussel {Mytilus edulis), besides numerous broken pieces of shells 

 of Melampus, My a, Mytilus, and Litorina; 21 opercula of gastropods {Polinices 

 heros^), and a few fragments of crabs {Cancer irroratiis). One pellet found on 

 this same date contained 4 specimens of Melampus lineatus, 49 bayberries, 10 

 cranberries, sand, and fragments of shells. Where the mollusc shells were 

 intact, the partly dried and shriveled animal contents were inside. The vora- 



