Vol. XXXYl 



191S 



Townsend, A Winter Crow Roost. 407 



night's lodging place, met with a large company coming from the 

 south and all settled together in the dunes about two miles south 

 of the roost. Some of the birds coming from the north, however, 

 settled on the bare fields by the roost, and their numbers here 

 were augmented by a stream from the west. This concourse on 

 the hillside set up a great tumult of cawings just before four o'clock. 

 At five minutes after four the united multitude of northerners and 

 southerners rose from their meeting place in the dunes and flew 

 low to join their noisy brethren on the hillside. This river of 

 black wings from the south was a continuous one and it was joined 

 just before its debouch on the hillside by the stream from the west. 

 The river from the north had split into two layers: the lower 

 flying birds came to rest on the hill, — the higher flying ones 

 favored by the strong northwest wind, continued on their way 

 south, notwithstanding the great current that was sweeping north 

 below them. They joined their comrades in the dunes and re- 

 traced their steps. No signs of starvation and impaired vigor in 

 these unnecessary flights, or in the games of tag in which two or 

 more of the birds would at times indulge ! 



The pace is now fast and furious. The birds are anxious to get 

 within touch of the roost before it is dark but none have yet entered 

 it. At 4.15 P. M., 135 birds pass in a minute from the south alone 

 on their way to join the concourse on the hillside. A little later 

 this southern river becomes so choked with birds that it is im- 

 possible to count them. From our point of vantage in a spruce 

 thicket on the hill we can see that this flock stretches for two miles 

 into the dunes and it takes four minutes to pass. The speed of 

 flight, therefore, must be roughly about thirty miles an hour. 

 At 4.15 P. M. the sun sets, but in the yellow glow of the cloudless 

 sky the birds can be seen pouring by from the west and south. 

 The bulk of the stream from the north now comes to rest on the 

 hillside for only occasionally can a crow be seen flying to the south 

 over the heads of the southern stream. 



At 4.35 P. M. Dr. Tyler and I again counted the southern stream 

 for a minute as they flew silently between us and the lighthouse. 

 One of us counted 160 the other 157 birds, so it is probable that 

 our counts wete fairly accurate. This constant watching of the 

 black stream from the south against the white light-house pro- 



