266 BULLETIN 191, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



They were in flocks of hundreds to thousands. The usual formation was in one 

 enormous flock which worked as a unit in some selected orchard with a few out- 

 lying and unimportant groups feeding at random from other orchards. When in 

 the air, this large host looked at a distance like a huge cloud of gnats. 



It was difficult to estimate the exact numbers but an approximation could be 

 made with the larger group when they settled to work in an orchard. In a 20-acre 

 almond orchard there were about 1500 trees. To each one of these trees one 

 could count from ten to thirty Crows with an average of fifteen to the tree. The 

 flock on our arrival numbered perhaps 15,000 which, in a short time, nearly 

 doubled in size until we estimated fully 30,000 members in the various groups. 

 ♦ * ♦ With regard to the almond damage there was no argument. The destruction 

 of an $800 crop was complete in two days after which the Crows moved on to 

 a new orchard. ♦ ♦ ♦ 



It was the practice of the Crows, after a hot afternoon's work, to spare them- 

 selves the trouble of flying any considerable distance to water by feeding on water- 

 melons. They were never seen to attack melons in the morning but always after 

 a dry day's work. Furthermore green melons were sought and eaten as well 

 as ripe ones indicating it was the moisture they were seeking. In any event 

 the damage amounted to practically 100% of the crop, no melon being spared 

 unless it happened to be concealed in the vines. 



Various methods of control or protection of the crops were tried, 

 but with indifferent success. Shooting served only to drive the crows 

 from one orchard to another, and they paid no attention to scarecrows 

 or to belling or stringing the trees. Poisoned carcasses of rabbits were 

 scattered about, but after a few crows had been poisoned the others 

 soon learned to avoid these baits. Poisoned watermelons proved more 

 effective in protecting this crop, for, after a few crows had been killed, 

 no further visits were made to the melon patches. Almonds, slit open, 

 poisoned, and scattered in conspicuous places in the orchards, finally 

 succeeded in driving away the cjows, though "the actual number of 

 crows poisoned was extremely small not exceeding 1% of the flock." 



He says in conclusion: "The use of poisoned almonds, when prop- 

 erly conducted, proved successful in protecting the crops but demon- 

 strated anew the exceptional sagacity of this bird. The first reaction 

 was one of extreme panic at some of their number being fatally affected 

 by their chief article of diet. This was manifested by tumultuous 

 clamoring and confusion of the flock while sudden sallys and forays 

 were made into distant parts of the Hills only to be met by the same 

 fatal consequences. The flock then rapidly reacted to the changed en- 

 vironment by abandoning attempts at feeding from the almonds and 

 indeed, by departing from the entire region." 



There is another score against the c.rows of western North America, 

 the destruction of the eggs of waterfowl .in the great breeding grounds 

 of ducks in the Middle West. We noticed that the nests of crows that 

 we saw in Saskatchewan were largely congregated around the shores 



