CHAPTER VII 



A Winter Crow Roost 



''At break of day I crossed the wooded vale: 

 And while the morning made 

 A trembling light among the tree-tops pale, 

 I saw the sable birds on every Itmb, 

 Clinging together closely in the shade. 

 And croaking placidly their surly hymn.'' 



— Van Dyke 



PRIOR to the winter of 1916-17, most of 

 the crows of the eastern parts of Essex 

 County, Massachusetts, spent the nights 

 in roosts in the pine thickets at Annisquam and 

 West Gloucester. Hither from all directions in 

 winter afternoons these birds could be seen wend- 

 ing their way. The general course of flight over 

 the Ipswich dunes was from north to south. 

 There were, however, several small roosts in the 

 Ipswich region. One was in a grove of white 

 pines and cedars on the south side of Heart-break 



13s 



