12 AMERICAN CROW 



sky at sunset, and have watched the black proces- 

 sions, more scattered and flying low, as the birds 

 returned looking for food the following morn- 

 ing. The country people tell us they are going 

 to a Crow caucus, and perhaps that is as near the 

 truth as we can guess ; for y if they do not gather 

 to talk things over, it is surely the social instinct 

 that moves them. In some places, as many as 

 300,000 gather at these nightly roosts, scattering 

 to their feeding grounds when morning comes. 

 One of the winter roosts is on historic ground 

 at Arlington, the old home of General Lee. This 

 roost covers fifteen acres of land, and all winter, 

 from the middle of the afternoon till twilight, the 

 birds may be seen from Washington crossing over 

 the Potomac to the heights beyond. Some years 

 ago Staten Island was visited by birds from three 

 New Jersey roosts in winter, and in summer there 

 were two roosts on the island itself. 



When the Crows scatter to nest, scarecrows 

 appear in the country, for the farmers are much 

 troubled by the sight of the birds in the corn- 

 fields. Professor Beal acknowledges that when 

 Crows and Blackbirds gather in great numbers 

 about cornfields, or Woodpeckers are noticed at 

 work in an orchard, it is perhaps not surprising 

 that they are accused of doing harm. But he 

 adds that careful investigation will often show 

 that they are actually destroying noxious insects, 

 and that even those which do harm at one season 



