中國網站品牌欄目（頻道）
Most evenings as the sun sinks over the horizon on Chang'an Avenue, a cacophony of "caws" can be heard echoing along the central Beijing shopping street as thousands of crows gather.
Wary shoppers along the historic avenue hurry along paths pasted with white droppings, spurred on by both the cold weather and the eerie congregation overhead.
By morning the crows will depart from their city home and fly to the outskirts of the city where they will spend the day scavenging shrubs, seeds and occasional small birds. As the sun falls, the birds once again return to their urban roost, only to repeat the process the next day.
They have been flocking to Chang'an Avenue every winter for almost 100 years. That’s according to Zhang Zhengwen, a professor of zoology at Beijing Normal University and secretary of the Beijing Ornithological Society.
Zhang said Students from the university have been surveying the crow population of Beijing for more than three years.
Their surveys revealed the Chang'an flock has a population of more than 2,000 crows.
"There are more than 10,000 crows in Beijing," he said. "There are at least three or four large flocks."
Other "murders", the term used to describe a flock of crows, include locations on Beijing Normal University's campus and Wukesong, though the concentrations of crows in these areas is not as large.
The students at Beijing Normal University are so fascinated with the birds that they have begun petitioning school administrators to adopt the crow as the school bird.
What draws the birds to Chang'an in such large numbers is cause for wide speculation and subject of folklore reaching as far back as the founding of Beijing.
Zhang said one popular folktale surrounding the birds says the crows saved the life of Huang Taiji, the first emperor of the Qing Dynasty by shielding him from the enemy's sight. In return for their help, the emperor and his servants fed the birds as much meat and scraps as they could eat. Ever since then the crows have been attracted to the areas around the Forbidden City.
Zhang offers a more scientific explanation.
"Because Chang'an Avenue is in the center of the city it is much warmer, which is why the birds are only there during the winter," he said. He added that the large poplar trees surrounding the Ministry of Commerce and Tongren Hospital make an ideal roosting area for the flock.
Questions:
1. How long have the crows been flocking to Chang’an Avenue?
2. How many crows are there in Beijing? And how many on Chang’an Avenue?
3. How have students at Beijing Normal University reacted to the birds?
Answers:
1. They have been flocking to Chang'an Avenue every winter for almost 100 years.
2. According to surveys, the Chang'an flock has a population of more than 2,000 crows. In all of Beijing, there are more than 10,000 crows.
3. They like them, so the students at Beijing Normal University are petitioning school administrators to adopt the crow as the school bird.
（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）
Todd Balazovic is a reporter for the Metro Section of China Daily. Born in Mineapolis Minnesota in the US, he graduated from Central Michigan University and has worked for China Daily for one year.
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