NOTES AND QUERIES. 297 



Crows, and indeed make of it a lucrative business. The Crows 

 sometimes become so violent that they attack the trains of pack- 

 mules which carry fish inland from the sea-shore. They pick off 

 the flesh from the mules' backs, pluck out their eyes, and at 

 times become very dangerous and violent, so that it is with great 

 difficulty that they are driven off. There are three species in 

 Japan, Corvus japonicus, which is distinctly Japanese ; Conus 

 corax, which is said to be identical with our Eaven ; and Corvus 

 corone, the Common Crow of Europe. 



The colonies, which are formed only for the winter, come 

 together late in the fall and break up in the spring, following the 

 generally accepted laws of bird migration. In the report of 

 Mr. Jones, of Keedy Island, in part given above, he says that 

 the Crows come from the 1st of September until it gets cold, 

 and begin to leave by the 1st of April, until in the last of 

 May none are left. While at St. Louis, Cooke and Widemann 

 say that by March 14th most of the Crows have left the winter 

 roost. 



The main element bringing them together in a common body 

 at night, I take it, is the social. In the choice of a roost, 

 scarcity of mankind and access to food, combined with a 

 growth of trees available for roosting upon, are the principal 

 points considered. A region once selected is kept for a great 

 many years, if there is no very decided disturbance to cause 

 emigration. 



(To be continued.) 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



The British Association. — The next Annual General Meeting of 

 the British Association for the Advancement of Science will be held at 

 Bath, commencing on Wednesday, September 5th, the President elect being 

 Sir Frederick Bramwell, D.C.L., F.R.S. A detailed programme of the 

 meeting has not yet reached us, but in our next number we shall doubtless 

 be able to give some information respecting Section D. (Biology) that will 

 be of interest to our readers. 



ZOOLOGIST. AUGUST, 1888. S A 



