LAND BIRDS OF THE DUNES 



Crows are worthy of more than passing 

 notice. They are found in the dunes at all 

 seasons of the year, but in far greater numbers 

 in winter than in summer. In summer they 

 are so hard put to it to find trees of sufficient 

 size for their nest that they sometimes build 

 only six feet from the ground. In winter, 

 when the inland country is frost-bound in ice 

 and snow, crows resort to the seashore in 

 great niunbers and live on the varied diet 

 which the beaches and the marshes afford. 

 The character of this diet is well shown in 

 the ejected pellets described in the chapter 

 on tracks and tracking. The nights are spent 

 in roosts in the thickets in the dunes, but 

 chiefly in the pine woods of Cape Ann and 

 Essex. In the morning one may see the crows 

 flying out from their night roosts, starting 

 from half an hour to an hour before sunrise. 

 They fly singly and in groups of from ten to 

 thirty, and by sunrise all are about the day's 

 business, scattered to feed along the beaches 

 and throughout the marshes of Ipswich, Essex 

 and Rowley. These early morning flights are 

 less direct than are the return flights at night, 

 for the birds are evidently hungry and on the 

 lookout for food. 



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