1886. ] Crow Roosts and Roosting Crows. 693 
island in the Delaware. It is there known by the name of the 
Pea Patch, and is a low, flat, alluvial spot of a few acres, elevated 
but little above high-water mark and covered with a thick growth 
of reeds. This 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.” He continues: “ 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 in- 
timidated the crows that they did not attempt to escape and 
almost all perished. Thousands of them were seen next day 
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.” 
This account reférs to some period in the last decade of the 
eighteenth century. In a foot-note to this we have the following, . 
which appeared in a newspaper of the locality about the year 7 
1800: “The farmers of Red Lion Hundred held a meeting at 
the village of St. Georges, in the State of Delaware, to receive 
proposals of John Deputy on a plan of banishing or destroying 
Ws ot 8 ha 
“Mr. Deputy proposes that for $500 he will engage to kill or- 
banish the crows from their roost on the Pea Patch and giye 
Security to return the money on failure.” Iam unable to find 
any other account of this remarkable roost, and am tempted to 
Suppose that Deputy accomplished the herculean task and outdid 
the tempest and the deluge. Pea Patch was deserted long ago, — 
how long it seems impossible to determine, but for the present I 
— Shall defer further comment on it to a future page and return to — 
the literature of roosts in general. Sh 
_ Audubon relates, in his “ Biography,” a few particulars respect- 
ing the roosting of both species of crow (C. ossifragus and C. 
americanus), which appear as much based on Wilson’s observa- _ 
