60 Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



I do not know that any attempt has ever been made to estimate 

 the number of those that winter at this place, but there must be 

 many thousands of them. Like its congener, the English Rook, 

 the species seems to resort for many years to these fixed " roosts," 

 or rookeries, but unlike the Rook, our species is, according to my 

 observation at least, solitary in its breeding habits. 



The Crow, while a common resident and breeding species in 

 Southern Ohio, is present in far greater numbers from November 

 to April. During this period the local ranks of the species are 

 apparently reinforced by a migratory "wave" from the north, 

 the region of the Ohio River being probably about the northern 

 limit of the range of the species in winter. 



This view was corroborated by the statement of my friend, the 

 late Dr. Wheatort, well known for his numerous and valuable con- 

 tributions to Ohio Ornithology, who informed me that the Crow 

 was practically an unknown bird at Columbus in winter. About 

 Cincinnati the species is abundant at that season, and when the 

 ground is covered with snow they may be seen in immense num- 

 bers foraging along the water-line of our rivers and creeks. 



495. Molol'hr.us ater, Bodd. Cow-bird. Another species 

 that congregates in large numbers here is the Cow-bird, which in 

 July and August roosts by hundreds in the shade-trees about 

 country residences and even in the streets of large towns I have 

 observed them particularly abundant in the trees bordering the 

 streets of Richmond, Indiana (population about 16,000), where 

 their incessant din at nightfall and daybreak, and their abundant 

 excrement, rendered them a nuisance only comparable to the 

 European Sparrow. During the day they scatter over the sur- 

 rounding fields in more or less compact flocks at this season, while 

 in the spring and early summer these ornithological Mormons are 

 only seen in groups composed of one male to four or five females. 

 They doubtless seek the situations above noted for protection from 

 the various enemies which would decimate their ranks in the woods 

 or orchards. 



While the bulk of the large flocks are "young of the year," 

 there is a goodly sprinkling of mature b.rds; and whether these 

 act as marshallers of the host — gathering them up one by one from 

 their various foster-parents, is, so far as I know, an unsolved 

 problem. 



Their coming together, however, in this manner, as soon as able 



