2 28 Davis, Crows and their Roosts. [ hiiv 



1S92, pp. 294-298) occurred in 1892, greater in fact than had 

 heretofore been recorded. None similar has taken place since, 

 so far as I know. Yet one hundred miles north of Cape Hatteras, 

 N. C, and fifty miles from land, Phalaropes abound in countless 

 myriads in May. 



STATEN ISLAND CROWS AND THEIR ROOSTS. 



BY WILLIAM T. DAVIS. 



Able-bodied Crows do not roost on Staten Island in winter, 

 but fly as night approaches to better protected retreats in New 

 Jersey. In ordinary winters five or six hundred visit the island 

 daily, and generally repair to the South Beach where they find a 

 considerable store of food, in the fish, crabs, and other dead 

 creatures that are cast ashore. As the afternoon wears away, the 

 Crows fly westerly from the beach, and congregate on the salt 

 meadows along Fresh Kill, on the opposite side of the island. 

 If these meadows are covered with snow, they assemble in the 

 trees, or in some upland field, which is more likely to be bare. 

 Here, with additions to their number from other parts of the 

 island, they hold a convention, and gradually, by twos and by 

 threes, and in small flocks, fly either along the Kill out to the 

 Sound, or diagonally across Long Neck to New Jersey, to a 

 roost that lies north or northwest of Staten Island. 



Many afternoons have been spent in watching the Crows at Long 

 Neck and elsewhere on the island, and a few specific observations 

 will be offered as evidence here, though a more detailed account 

 is to be found in the Proceedings of the Natural Science Asso- 

 ciation of Staten Island, for May 12, 1S94. 



Sunday, Decemher 24, and Christmas day, 1S93, were both 

 very mild ; there was a warm wind ami no snow on the ground. 

 On these occasions several hundred Crows gathered on the salt 

 meadows in the afternoon, near the head of the main branch of 



