1124 General Notes. [Dec, 
to the settlement of the country, the crows at these various roost- 
ing-places in Eastern Kansas and Southeastern Nebraska had 
one roost,—different roosts being formed by the change of food- 
supply occasioned by the settlement of the country. 
crows assemble on the island named about the first of 
October and disperse about the first of May. About daybreak 
on a fine morning, when setting out for the day’s journey, their 
chatter and noise, made in taking flight, may be distinctly heard 
in Peru, six miles away. A reliable witness, who has lived in the 
country for some ten or fifteen years, states that he has often 
“ observed, flying in one direction, flocks of crows six miles long 
and one-half mile wide.” In the winter the crows are so very 
plentiful in the surrounding country, including a radius of from 
twenty to forty miles, as to attract the attention of the most care- 
less observer. Farmers have very often been compelled to guard 
their feed-pens. I have frequently been told by reliable persons 
that the crows in severe winters peck holes in the backs of hogs, 
- in some cases eating off the ears. 
Sometimes these crows roost in small bushes and large weeds, 
but generally in trees, often the willow or cotton-wood. 
numbers, former roosts, and mode of life. 
The roost on the island may be plainly seen from the tower on 
the Normal School building.. W. Edgar Taylor, State Normal, - 
Peru, Neb. i 
. - 
through, and was found loose in the room next morning. er 
SS present writing she is alive in the National Museum, byte” n 
~ was sent at the request of Prof- G. Brown Goode. I have kept ie 
