192 
CROWS AND ROOKS. 
It has been observed, that they are usually of solitary I 
habits, seldom associating in greater numbers than pairs; 
but this rule has also its exceptions, and the following 
instances of the mysterious assemblages of birds may be I 
justly classed amongst their most extraordinary instinctive 
habits. 
In the northern parts of Scotland, and in the Feroe ' 
Islands, extraordinary meetings of Crows are occasionally | 
known to occur. They collect in great numbers, as if they 
bad been all summoned for the occasion ; a few of the flock | 
sit with drooping beads, and others seem as grave as judges, 1 
while others again are exceedingly active and noisy : in the 
course of about an hour they disperse, and it is not un- 
common, after they have flown away, to find one or two left 
dead on the spot. Another writer* says, that these meetings 
will sometimes continue for a day or two, before the object, ! 
whatever it may be, is completed. Crows continue to arrive 
from all quarters during the session. As soon as they have 
all arrived, a very general noise ensues, and, shortly after, 
the whole fall upon one or two individuals, and put them to 
death : when this execution has been performed, they quietly 
disperse. 
Another and nearly similar meeting was witnessed near 
Oggersheim, a small village on the banks of the Rhine ; 
where, in a large meadow, every autumn, the Storks 
assemble, to hold (as the country people call it) a council, 
just before their annual migration. On one of these occa- j 
sions about fifty were observed, formed in a ring round one j 
individual, whose appearance bespoke great alarm. One of 
the party then seemed to address the conclave, by clapping 
its wings for about five minutes. It was followed by a 
second, a third, and a fourth, in regular succession, each, , 
like the first, clapping its wings in the same odd and signi- 
ficant manner. At last they all joined in chorus, and then 
with one accord fell upon the poor culprit in the middle, and | 
despatched him in a few seconds ; after which they rose up 
Dr. Edmonston’S Shetland Isles. 
