Concord, Mass.
1901.
Oct. 4
(No 2)
 among the dense foliage. They seemed to have no
fear or suspicion but sought their roosts without
hesitation or loss of time. A few restless birds, however,
flitted from thicket to thicket before they finally
settled for the night. I counted upward of 175
of which about one half were Rusties & all the others
apparently Cow-birds. They made a deafening clamor
keeping it up until nearly dark.
  The Crow Blackbirds arrived just after sunset
in their flocks which followed one another in quick
succession. The first flock contained 19 birds, the
second about 30, the third fully 75. They all 
alighted together in the dense white maples on
the bank of the river. For several minutes they 
remained perched on the tops of the upright shoots
where they clustered as thick as bees. They then
began descending into the foliage & seeking their
nests. This took a long time - fully twenty
minutes. I paddled slowly past the trees & then
floated back past them. Although the evening
was perfectly calm the foliage of the maples was
constantly and violently agitated by the movements
of the restless birds. I could see many of them
among the leaves against the bright light in
the western sky. They were perched, as a rule,
about 15 feet from the ground and 5 or 6 ft.
below the down of foliage that covered the tops 
& ends of the branches. A few birds which were
still outside the mass of foliage took alarm
at my approach & flew to other trees but
they soon returned. Every bird in the flock
134