CROW. 85 



appears to be the grand rendezvous, or head-quarters, of the 

 greater part of the crows within forty or fifty miles of the 

 spot. It is entirely destitute of trees, the crows alighting and 

 nestling among the reeds, which by these means are broken 

 down and matted together. The noise created by those mul- 

 titudes, both in their evening assembly and reascension in the 

 morning, and the depredations they commit in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of this great resort, are almost incredible. 

 Whole fields of corn are sometimes laid waste by thousands 

 alighting on it at once, with appetites whetted by the fast of 

 the preceding night ; and the utmost vigilance is unavailing 

 to prevent, at least, a partial destruction of this their favourite 

 grain. Like the stragglers of an immense, undisciplined, 

 and rapacious axmy, they spread themselves over the fields, 

 to plunder and destroy wherever they alight. It is here that 

 the character of the crow is universally execrated ; and to say 

 to the man who has lost his crop of corn by these birds, that 

 crows are exceedingly useful for destroying vermin, would be as 

 consolatory as to tell him who had just lost his house and furni- 

 ture by the flames, that fires are excellent for destroying bugs. 



The strong attachment of the crows to this spot may be 

 illustrated by the following circumstance : Some years ago, a 

 sudden and violent north-east storm came on during the night, 

 and the tide, rising to an uncommon height, inundated the 

 whole island. The darkness of the night, the suddenness and 

 violence of the storm, and the incessant torrents of rain that 

 fell, it is supposed, so intimidated the crows, that they did 

 not attempt to escape, and almost all perished. Thousands 

 of them were next day seen floating in the river ; and the 

 wind, shifting to the north-west, drove their dead bodies to the 

 Jersey side, where for miles they blackened the whole shore. 



This disaster, however, seems long ago to have been 

 repaired ; for they now congregate on the Pea Patch in as 

 immense multitudes as ever.* 



* The following is extracted from a late number of a newspaper 

 printed in that neighbourhood ; — 



