WHITE-NECKED RAVEN 223 



white-necked raven. The occurrence of ravens in large numbers makes 

 them potentially capable of doing either severe damage or much good, 

 and during tlie season their habits may vary from one extreme to the 

 other. If the birds were evenly distributed throughout the year and did 

 not congregate they probably would be more beneficial than detrimental. 

 In judging the economic status of the ravens examined in this study 

 their yearly food habits may be segregated roughly into beneficial, 17 

 percent; detrimental, ZZ percent; and of neutral significance, 30 per- 

 cent, * * * 



"In order to obtain the farmer's point of view regarding the raven, a 

 farm-to-farm canvass covering 100 farms was made in Howard County, 

 Tex., in April 1936. * * * 



"The 100 farmers interviev/ed estimated that they grew about 13,644 

 acres of sorghum eacli year, and every farmer but one considered that 

 the greatest loss the ravens caused him was to this crop. The estimated 

 annual loss per acre ranged from nothing to $3 and averaged $0.66. At 

 this average rate the annual loss from the total acreage of grain sorghums 

 grown in Howard County would be $49,500. * * * 



"The following opinions comparing the ravens with other pests were 

 volunteered. Six farmers considered small birds — including lark bunt- 

 ings, English sparrows, and blackbirds — more detrimental than ravens 

 to the grain sorghum crop; two thought that rabbits were as bad as 

 ravens and two thought them worse; two believed that ducks consumed 

 more grain sorghums than ravens ; and two said that coyotes were more 

 destructive than ravens to their melons." 



The ravens are, also, accused of spreading contagious diseases of live- 

 stock and poultry, such as hog cholera, blackleg and roup, through their 

 carrion feeding habits ; but this has not been proved. 



In some treeless regions, the ravens have formed the habit of building 

 their nests on the cross arms of telephone poles. As they often use old 

 haywire and cast-ofT barbed wire in their nests, these cause short circuits ; 

 this has cost one telephone company $2,500 to $5,500 annually to 

 patrol the line and keep it clear. "There have been as many as 202 in- 

 stances of wire trouble that called for special investigation in a year 

 (1934), and between 700 and 800 pounds of scrap wire have been re- 

 moved annually from the nests and the ground beneath the lines. Shoot- 

 ing, poisoning, and trapping have accounted for 1,500 to 2,000 ravens 

 yearly, but the trouble persists." 



Various control measures, such as shooting to kill or frighten away 

 the birds, catching them in steel traps, poisoning them, or destroying 

 their nests, eggs and young, have been tried with varying success, but 

 none of these is very satisfactory. "The most selective and safest means 

 of reducing the numbers of white-necked ravens is bv catching them 



