12 



THE COMMON CROW. 



tired Crows are very apt to settle in any convenient place when dark- 

 ness overtakes them. Sack temporary roosts are nsed at intervals all 

 through, the winter, but probably do not comprise 5 percent of the 

 whole number of Grows in the neighborhood. 



As already stated, most of the Crows inhabiting the northern half of 

 the United States in summer are believed to pass the winter in a belt 

 of country lying between latitude 35° and 40°. Within these bounda- 

 ries or very close to them are located all the large winter roosts known 

 to us. 



The following is an imperfect list of all the large roosts known to be 

 in use during 1886 and 1887 : 



List of the principal winter Crow roosts 



Locality. 



Extent. | Xuinber of Crows. 



Ne^v Jersey : 



j 

 20 to 30 acres son onn snn nnn 



Medford, Burlington County 





Large numbers. 

 Do. 



Merchantville, Camden County 



Reedy Island, Delaware River 



Pennsylvania: 



About 20 acres 



About 50 acres 



200,000. 

 200,000. 



Davis Grove, Montgomery 'County 



Lancaster, Montgomery County 



Maryland: 



About 20 acres 



200,000. 



Large numbers. 



Do. 



10,000 (?). 



150,000-200,000. 

 Large numbers. 

 Do. 



Sandy Spring, Montgomery County 



District of Columbia: 





15 to 20 acres 



Indiana : 



Kentucky: 





Illinois : 



Xevrman, Douglass County 



Missouri : 



Very large roost 



70,000-90,000. 

 100,000-200,000. 



Pierce City 



Is ebraska : 



Peru, Kemaha County 



Kansas : 



Allen County 



Douglass County 



California : 



Posts. Monterey County 



Large roost 



do 



do 



do 



do 



In addition to these large roosts smaller ones have been reported 

 from Syracuse, X. Y.; Amagansett, Long Island, ~N. Y. ; Fishers Island, 

 Long Island Sound ; Middletown, Conn., and Wauwatosa, Wis. 1 



The immense winter colonies of Crows in the neighborhood of Chesa- 

 peake Bay early attracted the attention of naturalists, and both Wilson 2 

 and Audubon give graphic accounts of some of the large roosts known 



1 Other roosts on the Connecticut River near Wethersfield, Conn., and on the 

 Missouri River a few miles southwest of Kansas City, Mo., are mentioned by F. L. 

 Bums, in Bull. No. 5, Wilson Ornith. Chapter, Oberlin, Ohio, March 15, 1895, pp. 7, 9. 



£ Wilson mentions roosts on the Hudson River 7 miles from New York City, and 

 on the 'Pea Patch/ a small island in the Delaware River near New Castle, Del. — 

 American Ornithology, Edinburgh ed., 1831, 1, pp. 240-242. 



