32 



Baven. This species occurs only in the more northerly portions of the Province, 

 having- retired before the encroachments of civilization. To the pioneer it is some- 

 times a nuisance, poultry and young lambs falling easy victims to this bird s 

 strength and rapacity. They also destroy a large quantity of game, but fortun- 

 ately their numl^er is so small, and the birds themselves so conspicuous, that it 

 is not difficult to get rid of them. 



Crow. Twenty-five years ago tlie Crovs of tlio Province of Ontario were as 

 regularly migratory as the Eobins. A few occasionally stayed through the Avinter 

 with us, and their doing so was considered a sign that we would have a mild season. 

 As the land has been brought under cultivation, and more particularly in neigh- 

 borhoods where market gardening is carried on extensively, the number remaining 

 through the winter has steadily increased, so that the species may now be con- 

 sidered a resident one. In the vicinity of Toronto vast flocks gather at the closf 

 of the autumn, feeding on the refuse vegetables left in the market gardens out- 

 side the city, and resorting at night to some of the pine woods still left standing. 

 In these they roost all through the winter. They may sometimes be pinched \)\ 

 hunger, but, unless the snow becomes too deep, they can generally get at the piles 

 of manure drawn out on the market gardens, and other refuse left about the land. 

 At this time they do no harm, and probably a little good, as they pick up many 

 mice and insects in their foraging, but when spring opens they again scatter over 

 the country and seek their nesting jdaces. Seeding operations are now going on, 

 and the first of the Crow's mischievous propensities asserts itself. i\.s soon as the 

 grain has absorbed sufficient moisture from the ground to hecome soft and has 

 slightly sprouted, then it becomes a favorite morsel for the Crows. Corn is pre- 

 ferred to any other grain. I ha\c i-arely found any ([uantity of any other grain 

 in the stomach of a Crow, but even when the birds have been seen feeding among 

 the hills of sprouting corn, and have been shot right on the spot, I have always 

 found the stomach contained quite as large an amount of insect remains as of 

 corn, the cut-worm forming one of the Crow's choicest articles of diet, and the 

 question arises as to whether it is not better to let the Crow have a little corn and 

 get rid of the cut-worm, than to let the cut-worm take off a lot of corn if we get 

 rid of the Crow. Later on I will say something about the history of this same 

 cut- worm. It is always wisest " of two evils to choose the least," and it must be 

 conceded that the corn-eating propensity of the Crow is an evil ; but it is certainly 

 less than the evil done by the cut-vrorm. So perhaps, so far as the Crow's case 

 goes here, it would be as well to call the balance even and give the Crow the benefit 

 of it. 



The next scene in the Crow's loroceedings shows him with a lively and de- 

 cidedly hungry family of four or five little ones, whose cravings demand constant 

 attention from their parents. The variety of food supplied to these insatiable 

 youngsters will vary somewhat according to the locality in which they are placed. 

 In any case, no more grain will be taken by the parent birds; their food will now 

 consist entirely of insects, mice and the young of other birds. Nor will they stop 

 at the young if they can catch an adult small bird. Sometimes they Avill try to 

 elude the vigilance of an old hen, and will snatch up her chickens more adroitly 

 than any hawk; ducklings fall easy victims to their cunning. It is at this season 

 they do the greatest amount of mischief, l)y destroying the nests and young of 

 more valuable birds, particularly of such as nest upon the ground. For this reason 

 chiefly Crows should be kept within proper limits as to numbers. Of late years 

 they have increased altogether too fast, and our small birds have suffered in con- 

 sequence. 



