A WINTER CROW ROOST 143 



thicket, for any attempt to do so aroused the hirds 

 to flight. 



In the dim light we could make out that the 

 hillside held between the roost and the sea was 

 still blackened with birds that were continually 

 rising up and entering the trees. Some of them 

 perched temporarily on the bare tops of the hard 

 woods where they were visible against the sky. 

 The noise and confusion were great. It would 

 seem as if the roost was so crowded that the 

 birds had to wait their time for a chance to get 

 in, and that a constant shifting of places and 

 crowding was necessary before the crows could 

 settle in peace for the night. Hence the pro- 

 longed and varied conversation; hence the pro- 

 fanity. 



It was an intensely interesting experience, this 

 observation of the return of the crows to their 

 night's lodgings, and one wished for eyes all 

 about the head, well sharpened wits to interpret 

 and a trained assistant to take down notes. How 

 many birds spent the night in the roost '^ T\vM 

 is a difficult question to answer, but a rough esti- 

 mate can be made. There were three streams en- 



