406 Townsend, A Winter Crow Roost. [o"t. 



February the flight is postponed until half past four or a quarter of 

 five. From every direction but the seaward side the Crows direct 

 their course towards the roost. Three main streams of flight can 

 be distinguished: one from the north, from the region of the 

 Ipswich and Rowley "hundreds," — the great stretches of salt 

 marsh that extend to the Merrimac River, — a second from the 

 west and a third, — apparently the largest of all, broad and deep 

 and highly concentrated, — from the south. 



It was the last of these rivers that on a cold December afternoon 

 with a biting wind from the northwest I first studied in company 

 with Mr. Francis H. Allen. It was an impressive sight. About 

 3 o'clock the Crows began to appear, singly and in small groups, 

 beating their way in the teeth of the wind towards the north. In 

 flying over the estuary of the Castle Neck River they kept close to 

 the water as if to take advantage of the lee behind the waves; 

 over the land they clung to the contour of the dunes. As we 

 walked among these waves of sand the Crows often appeared 

 suddenly and unexpectedly over the crest of a dune within a few 

 feet of us. Silently for the most part, except for the silken rustle 

 of their wings, they flew over in increasing numbers until it was 

 evident that they were to be counted, not by hundreds, but by 

 thousands. Many of them alighted on the dunes to the south of 

 the roosting place; sand, bushes and stunted bare trees were alike 

 black with them. Others assembled on the bare hillside to the. 

 east. About sunset a great tumult of corvine voices issued from 

 the multitude, — a loud cawing with occasional wailing notes, — 

 and a black cloud rose into the air and settled in the branches of 

 the bare trees to the west of the roost. From here as it was growing 

 dusk they glided into the evergreens for the night. 



The last day of the year 1916, I spent with Dr. W. M. Tyler in 

 the dunes. The wind was fresh from the northwest, — the tempera- 

 ture was 15° Far. at 6.30 A. M., 18° at noon and 20° at 6 P. M. As 

 early as one o'clock in the afternoon a few Crows were seen strug- 

 gling north over and close to the surface of the dunes. Others 

 were noticed flying high and towards the south. This southerly 

 flight came from over Castle Hill to the north, passed the roost and 

 continued on over the dunes. At half-past three some of these 

 birds, which were apparently turning their backs on their usual 



