American Crow 
155 
and there, in this bulky cradle, almost as 
bulky as a squirrel’s nest, they raise their fam- 
ily. Young crows may be easily tamed and they 
make interesting, but very mischievous pets. 
It is only when crows are nesting that they 
give up their social, flocking habit. 
In winter, if the fields be lean, large pictur- 
esque flocks may be seen at dawn streaking 
across the sky to distant beaches where they 
feed on worms, refuse and small shellfish. 
More than one crow has been watched, rising 
in the air with a clam or a mussel in his claws, 
dropping it on a rock, then falling after it, as 
soon as the shell is smashed, to feast upon its 
contents. The fish crow, a distinct species, 
never found far inland, although not neces- 
sarily seen near water, may be distinguished 
from our common crow by its hoarser car. In 
some cases it joins its cousins on the beaches. 
With punctual regularity at sundown, the flocks 
straggle back inland to go to sleep, sometimes 
thousands of crows together in a single roost. 
Many birds have more regular meal hours and 
bed-time than some children seem to care for. 
Because crows eat almost anything they can 
find, and pick up a good living where other 
birds, more finical or less clever, would starve, 
they rarely need to migrate ; but they are great 
rovers. There is not a day in the year when 
you could not find a crow. 
