Crow Roosts and Flight Lines in Southeastern 

 Pennsylvania and New Jersey 



BY HERBERT L. COGGINS. 

 " The black'ning train of Crows to their repose." — Burns. 



If for no better reason than mere local pride the subject of 

 winter Crows and Crow roosts should be one of prime import- 

 ance to every member of the Delaware Valley Ornithological 

 Club. For undoubtedly the region surrounding the lower Dela- 

 ware Valley, besides affording a home for the body already 

 mentioned, contains more winter Crows than any equal area in 

 the country. 



To one who is sufficiently gifted in the way of imagination 

 the study of our local Crow roosts might distantly be likened to 

 a golf ball. The first impulse to this visionary sphere was 

 given in 1886 by Mr. S. N. Rhoads, whose vigorous drive, 

 "Crow Roosts and Roosting Crows," sent it well on in its 

 course. Then as if lost, it lay motionless for nearly ten years. 



The next stroke was from the arm of Mr. Witmer Stone. 

 As a preparation to this new impetus to the science of ' Crow- 

 ology,' government jjostmasters, respectable private citizens and 

 lighthouse keepers, who were suspected of possessing any in- 

 formation upon the subject of Crows, were promptly and effect- 

 ually besieged, and as a partial and visible result of these 

 investigations was the article on the Reedy Island Roost that 

 appeared in Bird Lore of December, 1899. 



The bulk of the information gathered together bj'^ Mr. Stone, 

 as well as much secured by Mr. Rhoads and Mr. Joseph W. 

 Tatum, has remained untouched, until at the request of the edi- 

 tor of Cassinia the writer undertook to confirm its accuracy as 

 applied to present conditions, and to prepare it for publication. 



Whatever ma}' be the final judgment of the farmer and the 

 Department of Agriculture as to his economic worth, the Crow 



(29) 



