94 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



pulled, and there were fifteen or twenty crows in the field 

 that morning. I had tarred most of my seed, but there was 

 a little strip near the centre of the field, where as my seed 

 run out, and the field was some distance from the house I 

 had planted some corn that I got of a neighbor, without tar- 

 ring it, and there the crows had done considerable damage. 



Prof. Stearns. I have no doubt that if corn can be pro- 

 tected by tarring, so that the crows will not eat it, they will 

 prove a benefit by leaving the corn and picking up the grubs 

 in the field. But, as a general rule, unless corn is tarred, I 

 think that the crows are tempted to eat it very strongly. I 

 know that has been my experience. Where corn has been 

 tarred, I have never known the crows to touch it. 



Mr. Sedgwick. In regard to the crow as a destructive 

 bird, it seems to me that he is not only destructive of the 

 corn crop, but it is my impression, from the little observation 

 that I have had, that he is very destructive of the eggs of 

 other birds. I remember being much interested a year ago 

 last spring, in watching a pair of crows, flying through an 

 orchard, and in several instances I saw them fly into birds' 

 nests, take out the eggs, and then go on around the field. 

 It seems to me that the remarks of the Professor, with refer- 

 ence to the crow being a destructive bird, are entirely justi- 

 fied. 



I would like to ask the Professor, why it is that the barn 

 swallow has disappeared from certain sections of this State. 

 I well remember that when I was a boy, a great multitude of 

 swallows built their nests about the barns on our farms, but 

 for the last five years I have not seen any. I have heard the 

 fact mentioned in regard to other localities. 



Another question in this connection : where in the economy 

 of birds does the blackbird come in ? 



Prof. Stearns. With regard to the barn swallow, I think 

 what the gentleman says is perfectly true. They are not so 

 abundant now as they were five years ago. But I think that 

 is owing, in great part, to the fact that the nests have been 

 destroyed as fast as they have been built. To be sure swal- 



