128 NEST OF ‘CLARK’S CROW.’ 
impossible to obtain the seeds of some of the very 
tall pines in any other way, a cruel system of col- 
lecting I should ever discountenance, if the poor 
birds were sacrificed merely with the hope of ob- 
taining seeds from their crops. Those killed 
were for specimens to bring home. <A few win- 
ter in British Columbia, but the larger propor- 
tion go southward in September. On_ their 
arrival in May, or early in June, they assemble 
in immense flocks, and so terribly loud is the 
noise they make, that you can hardly hear the 
sound of your own or others’ voice; a most dis- 
cordant, continuous, grating clatter, intensified 
at times into a perfect shriek. These assemblies 
only last about a week, during which time the 
wooing is done, and marriages celebrated, the 
favoured birds getting such fair ones as they 
choose, the less fortunate such as they can. 
The pairs then depart, to perform the all-im- 
portant duties of nesting. The nest I saw (I 
never succeeded in finding more than one) was 
in the top of a lofty pine-tree, at least 200 feet 
high; the tree was felled in cutting the Boundary 
line, and by chance I discovered the nest. The 
egos were of course smashed to atoms, but the 
old birds hovered round and even perched 
on the ruins of their nursery, leaving no 
