Birds of Indiana. 883 



TJie following additional notes on the same roost by Mr. Geo. S. 

 Cottman appeared in the Indianapolis News (date not known): 



CROW ROOST. 



"About four and a half miles east of Indianapolis, and a mile and a 

 half north of Irvington, a stretch of heavy woods was used by the 

 crows for two winters (about '93 and '94). 



"By four o'clock in the afternoon the crows begin to come in from 

 every point of the compass; straggling at first, then in flocks that in- 

 crease in number and size till continuous streams seem to be converg- 

 ing at this point, and the air overhead is fairly filled with a chaos of 

 black flakes soaring and circling about. Evidently they come together 

 for the purpose of enjoying a grand social carnival. They congregate 

 in the adjoining meadows in vast crowds, where they walk about, inter- 

 mingling and hob-nobbing; the rail fences present long, unbroken 

 lines of black, and the isolated trees in the fields seem suddenly to 

 have taken on some strange, large-leaved foliage. When this multi- 

 tude take alarm and all rise at once, they are like the famous cloud 

 of locusts, and it looks as if a rifie-ball fired at random would bring 

 down a score. As one stands in the woods the spectacle of these thou- 

 sands of birds swirling and eddying among the tree-tops has a be- 

 wildering effect, which is heightened by the incessant clamor. Free 

 speech seems to be the order of the occasion. Every crow has some- 

 thing to say, and he says it, and as no individual can be heard for the 

 others, the result is a conglomeration of noises that can be heard a 

 mile, and which sounds precisely like a tremendous escape of steam. 

 The jollification is continued till long after dark, and all through the 

 evening they keep up a boisterous, many- voiced conversation. These 

 mighty gatherings take place only through the winter, and during the 

 summer lodgings in that locality are to let." 



]\Ir. W. W. Pfrimmer informs me that there is a "rookery" near 

 Newton and Demotte, in Porter County, where he thinks as many as 

 500 nests could be found on two or three acres. Mr. Nehrling 

 describes their nesting in a colony in Texas. 



In spring when mating-time comes the Crows scatter. They begin 

 pairing in March. I have noted them most commonly between March 

 28 (1896), and April 9 (1881). Nests with full sets may usually be 

 found between April 15 and May 1. In Lake County, Mr. L. T. Meyer 

 has taken fresh eggs from April 8 to 15. Prof. Evermann found fresh 

 eggs April 16 in Carroll County. They nest in all kinds of woodland, 

 dense and open, river valleys and hill-land. Incubation lasts about 

 eighteen days, and both parents engage in it. 



