THE CARRION-CROW AND THE HOODED-CROW 27 



In their largest roosting-places the common-crows may number over 

 two hundred thousand. They continue to arrive for some hours before 

 nightfall, flying in from all quarters, and from distances as great as forty 

 to fifty miles. They do not go directly into the roosting-trees, but, like 

 other species, alight at a certain distance away, generally a few 

 hundred yards, many flying over the roost itself in order to reach the 

 appointed place. Here they may be seen, as one after another the 

 bands come in, descending, sometimes from a thousand feet, like 

 winged bolts let loose from heaven, the headlong swoop being often 

 varied by startling twists and turns as they sport one good comrade 

 with another. They spread in black masses over the woods and fields 

 beneath, a living pall, not only alive, but full of sound, and swept by 

 deafening discords. This happy rout goes on till sunset, when, moved 

 by one impulse, the bands make for the roosting-trees, flying low and 

 silent as if anxious to avoid notice. At break of day the great hosts 

 rise up from their many-acred dormitory, and circling overhead 

 awhile, with noisy salutations, get their bearings and depart in 

 hundreds and in thousands to their distant feeding-grounds. 



It is perhaps hardly necessary to add that the gunners easily find 

 their way into these huge roosts and slay without mercy ; their victims 

 rising with panic-stricken rushes, screaming with fright and pain, only 

 to settle again near by and be scattered by a new discharge. 



One may well ask what is it that makes the crows continue night 

 after night to mass together, and so court their own destruction ? The 

 cause, whatever it be, must lie deep-rooted in their natures, for they 

 come again and again to the slaughter. It cannot be desire for extra 

 warmth. A branch or a ledge will only hold a certain number, how- 

 ever much they press together, and enough would be supplied by a 

 single family, to say nothing of the union of families that makes up 

 the flock united in the daily search after food. But the night flock 

 is a combination of day flocks drawn from widely scattered areas. 



It may be that the force, potent enough to draw them to the 

 same spot each evening, is an ingrained dread of something other 



