THE AMERICAN CROW 



the grain in large quantities, though they did not eat it. 

 He continued: 



"The injury to com at other seasons than sprouting time 

 is, as a general thing, comparatively insignificant, but 

 in some years it has been important when the ears were 

 in the milk. They then tear open the ears, and pick out 

 the kernels in rapid succession. In the National Zoolog- 

 ical Park at Washington during the summer of 1896, 

 their depredations on an acre of corn were watched, and 

 50 per cent, of the crop was found to have been ruined. 



"The only scarecrows that proved effective at Marshall 

 Hall were dead crows, and strings stretched on poles 

 around the field and hung with long white streamers. 

 Although in fall the number of marauders is greatly in- 

 creased by reenforcements from the North, ripe com sus- 

 tains less injury from crows than roasting ears. One 

 reason is the abundance of fall fmit. 



"Wlieat suffers comparatively little. When it is ripen- 

 ing, cherries and sprouting com divert the crow's atten- 

 tion. After it is cut and gathered into the shock, however, 

 they often join the English sparrows in removing the 

 kernels. Oats are injured even less than wheat, though 

 crows have been noticed feeding on them at harvest 

 time." 



While the crow is considered the arch-criminal of the 

 bird-world. Dr. Judd ascribed to him a good habit — that 

 of the dissemination of wild seeds in an unusual manner. 

 He wrote: "In November, 1899, a large flock on the 

 wing was noticed in the distance, at a point opposite Fort 

 Washington, several miles above Marshall Hall. They 

 came on down the river in a line that at times stretched 

 almost from one bank to the other. They circled several 



[15] 



