2l6 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



has been in the Gainey swamp, i^ miles south of Phelps, where many 

 thousands of crows — probably 30,000 to 40,000 — have been in the habit 

 of roosting from November to March. About the last of December 191 1, 

 however, this roost broke up. A small portion, that is, the crows of west- 

 ern Ontario county, still remained to roost to the nrmiber of 3,000 or 4,000 

 just northwest of Melvin hill; the remainder joined the crows of Seneca 

 county roosting near the town of Varick, a few miles southeast of Geneva. 

 Inquiry in different parts of the State indicates that it is customary for 

 the crow roosts to vary both in numbers of crows assembled and in the exact 

 location of the roost from year to year, but it is a fact that during the winter 

 months in all portions of the State the crows congregate in great numbers 

 to roost, whereas, during the summer months, the roosts consist of only a 

 few crows, from 50 to 300 being the usual number of male crows and 

 others which are not engaged about the nest, which meet together to roost 

 at night, and as soon as the young are out of the nest the roosts become 

 larger but rarely more than a few hundred, until the winter season begins, 

 when large roosts are organized, and usually the country covered during 

 the day extends from 20 to 30 miles in various directions from the roost. 

 The food of the crows at this time of the year consists mostly of grain 

 left in the field, especially unhusked corn, dead animals such as cattle, 

 horses, calves, sheep etc., which are left exposed in the field, dead fish and 

 other animals found along the shores of lakes and streams, crayfish and 

 other aquatic animals taken from the shallow water, thorn apples and other 

 fruits which are searched for under the dead leaves, beetles, cocoons and 

 larvae of insects which are unearthed from rotten wood, dead leaves and 

 sod, and occasionally frozen apples hanging on the trees, and field mice 

 which are hunted in the swamps and meadows. During the summer the 

 food of the Crow consists to a large extent of cutworms and other injurious 

 larvae of insects, but they also feed to a considerable extent upon pre- 

 daceous beetles and the eggs and young of smaller birds, as well as upon 

 chickens and hens' eggs found at some distance from the farmhouse. They 

 also destroy numbers of grouse and pheasant eggs as well as the 3^oung of 



