334 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



years, leaving in small flocks and scattered groups at daylight 

 and retu rning towards dusk. They likewise migrate in these 

 large flocks in fall, but in spring they seem to return in small 

 bands or scattered pairs. 



When a band of Crows is feeding one or two are generally 

 posted as sentinels and a "caw c-a-a-w" of warning from these 

 is sufficient to make all seek safety. Their call "caw, caw" is 

 uttered in varied tones and different accents so that it is 

 capable of meaning a great many things from alarm to satis- 

 faction, and one acquainted with their ways can usually tell 

 just what they are saying in a general way. For instance I 

 have never yet failed to correctly judge from their excited and 

 confused cries that they had an Owl penned up somewhere 

 and were engaged in "mobbing" it to their satisfaction. The 

 alarm "caw" uttered sharply and quickly, which means 

 "look out," is well known to about everybody who has ever 

 seen a Crow. Their prolonged cries of distress when their 

 home is menaced should be readily recognizable. The pro- 

 longed "ca-r a c k" of a love sick individual in 



spring, uttered in various tones and drawn out into pro- 

 longed gurglings, though somewhat like the call of the young 

 for food is still quite different. 



The Crows nest in thick woods, open groves, along river 

 bottoms in the trees and in any similar situation not too near 

 a house and handy to a good food supply. A small group of 

 trees in the middle of a field is very satisfactory to a pair of 

 these birds. I have found nests in small spruce, fir, pine and 

 poplar at not over ten to fifteen feet from the ground and also 

 in the very tallest pines and spruces of the deep woods at 

 varying heights up to a hundred feet from the ground. The 

 lowest nest I ever found was five feet up in a thick bushy fir 

 which grew with a few other bushes along the line between 

 two fields. In general the nests in the smaller groves in places 

 where the birds are unmolested are placed lower down than 

 those in the taller thicker woods where the birds might be 

 supposed to have many natural enemies besides human beings^ 



