A NATURALIST. 123 



tion, that not less than a million of crows sleep there 

 nightly during the winter season. 



To gather crow heads from the roost, a very large 

 party was made up, proportioned to the extent of surface 

 occupied by the dormitory. Armed with double barrelled 

 and duck guns, which threw a large charge of shot, the 

 company was divided into small parties, and these took 

 stations, selected during the day time, so as to surround 

 the roost as nearly as possible. A dark night was always 

 preferred, as the crows could not when alarmed fly far, 

 and the attack was delayed until full midnight. All 

 being at their posts, the firing was commenced by those 

 who were most advantageously posted, and followed up 

 successively by the others, as the affrighted crows sought 

 refuge in their vicinity. On every side the carnage then 

 raged fiercely, and there can scarcely be conceived a 

 more forcible idea of the horrors of a battle, than such a 

 scene afforded. The crows screaming with fright and 

 the pain of wounds, the loud deep roar produced by the 

 raising of their whole number in the air, the incessant 

 flashing and thundering of the guns, and the shouts of 

 their eager destroyers, all produced an effect which can 

 never be forgotten by any one who has witnessed it, nor 

 can it well be adequately comprehended by those who 

 have not. Blinded by the blaze of the powder, and be- 

 wildered by the thicker darkness that ensues, the crows 

 rise and settle again at a short distance, without being 

 able to withdraw from the field of danger ; and the san- 



