154 BIRDS OF FIELD, FOREST AND PARK 



which is a disagreeable " ca-ca-ca.'^ The roughly- 

 built nest of bark, twigs and moss is usually 

 placed in a thick-topped spruce or fir tree, some 

 distance from the ground. The eggs are usually 

 four in number, grayish, spotted and splashed 

 with brown and slate colors. They are perma- 

 nent residents throughout their range. 



Common Crow. There are few birds about 

 which public opinion has been so much at vari- 

 ance as the Common Crow. Formerly farmers 

 almost universally condemned him as the great- 

 est of mischief makers, an unmitigated nuisance, 

 because of his persistent pulling of sprouting 

 com and other seeds in spring, and the destruc- 

 tion he worked in the com and potato fields and 

 in the garden in fall. Among the farmers of my 

 acquaintance there has been a great change of 

 sentiment in recent years toward this sombre- 

 hued bird for two reasons. It has been learned 

 that by soaking the seed corn, peas, etc., in a 

 solution of tar water, or any one of several 

 chemicals, they are rendered so unpalatable that 

 Mr. Crow never repeats the performance. Farm- 

 ers have also learned through various sources, 

 chiefly from information sent out by the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture at Washington, that the 

 crow is a very valuable adjunct to their labors 

 because of the great number of pests he destroys, 

 mice, June bugs and their larvae, cutworms, 

 grasshoppers, potato bugs, etc., thereby adding 

 substantially to the bounty of the crops. 



To be sure, Crows still work more or less 

 damage, particularly in the fall, and they 

 destroy the eggs and young of various song 



