132 WAKE-ROBIN 
over a wide country, would prevail, as a few might 
subsist where a larger number would starve. The 
truth is, however, that, in winter, food can be had 
only in certain clearly defined districts and tracts, 
as along rivers and the shores of bays and lakes. 
A few miles north of Newburgh, on the Hudson, 
the crows go into winter quarters in the same man- 
ner, flying south in the morning and returning again 
at night, sometimes hugging the hills so close dur- 
ing a strong wind as to expose themselves to the 
clubs and stones of schoolboys ambushed behind 
trees and fences. The belated ones, that come la- 
boring along just at dusk, are often so overcome by 
the long journey and the strong current that they 
seem almost on the point of sinking down whenever 
the wind or a rise in the ground calls upon them 
for an extra effort. 
The turkey buzzards are noticeable about Wash- 
ington as soon as the season begins to open, sailing 
leisurely along two or three hundred feet overhead, 
or sweeping low over some common or open space 
where, perchance, a dead puppy or pig or fowl has 
been thrown. Half a dozen will sometimes alight 
about some such object out on the commons, and, 
with their broad dusky wings lifted up to their full 
extent, threaten and chase each other, while perhaps 
one or two are feeding. Their wings are very large 
and flexible, and the slightest motion of them, while 
the bird stands upon the ground, suffices to lift its 
feet clear. Their movements when in air are very 
majestic and beautiful to the eye, being in every 
