192 CROWS AND ROOKS. 



It has been observed, that they are usually of solitary 

 habits, seldom associating in greater numbers than pairs ; 

 but this rule has also its exceptions, and the following 

 instances of the mysterious assemblages of birds may be 

 justly classed amongst their most extraordinary instinctive 

 habits. 



In the northern parts of Scotland, and in the Feroe 

 Islands, extraordinary meetings of Crows are occasionally 

 known to occur. They collect in great numbers, as if they 

 had been all summoned for the occasion ; a few of the flock 

 sit with drooping heads, and others seem as grave as judges, 

 while others again are exceedingly active and noisy : in the 

 course of about an hour they disperse, and it is not un- 

 common, after they have flown away, to find one or two left 

 dead on the spot. Another writer 1 * says, that these meetings 

 will sometimes continue for a day or two, before the object, 

 whatever it may be, is completed. Crows continue to arrive 

 from all quarters during the session. As soon as they have 

 all arrived, a very general noise ensues, and, shortly after, 

 the whole fall upon one or two individuals, and put them to 

 death : when this execution has been performed, they quietly 

 disperse. 



Another and nearly similar meeting was witnessed near 

 Oggersheim, a small village on the banks of the Rhine ; 

 where, in a large meadow, every autumn, the Storks 

 assemble, to hold (as the country people call it) a council, 

 just before their annual migration. On one of these occa- 

 sions about fifty were observed, formed in a ring round one 

 individual, whose appearance bespoke great alarm. One of 

 the party then seemed to address the conclave, by clapping 

 its wings for about five minutes. It was followed by a 

 second, a third, and a fourth, in regular succession, each, 

 like the first, clapping its wings in the same odd and signi- 

 ficant manner. At last they all joined in chorus, and then 

 with one accord fell upon the poor culprit in the middle, and 

 despatched him in a few seconds j after which they rose up 



* DR. EDMONSTON'S Shetland Isles. 



