Crows 251 



winter months, and even in the nesting season they are 

 separated only by short distances. This gregarious- 

 ness leads them to form during the winter what are 

 commonly called crow roosts, which are nothing more 

 nor less than the crows of a certain section of the country 

 roosting in one place. There is no uniformity as to 

 the location of the roost, for it may be in evergreen 

 or deciduous trees, and again among the reeds and 

 grasses. The evergreens would seem to form the best 

 protection from storms and high winds, the most 

 northern roost that I have seen being so located. 



In the early morning the roost is vacated by the 

 crows, and they spread out over the surrounding 

 country in search of food, going usually in bands. 

 These bands quite uniformly take the same direction 

 in going to their feeding grounds and in returning to 

 the roost — preferably following a valley or a range of 

 hills for protection from the winds. Toward evening 

 the crows arrive in the neighborhood of the roost, and 

 just before dark they settle upon it in a body. The 

 various bands are, to some extent, under leaders. This 

 is very common among gregarious animals. 



Some roosts contain as many as fifty acres, and 

 probably in a roost as large as this the crows number 

 as many as a hundred and fifty thousand, or even 

 more. The crow roost with which I have been most 



