THE AMERICAN CROW. 



NOTES ON ITS HABITS : NOTABLY FEKDINCi, NESTING, ROOSTING. KLIGH' 



RELATIVE ABUNDANCE, ETC., BY VARIOUS OBSERVERS IN 



WIDELY SCATTERED LOCALITIES 



" Co)-7'us ((>?n'ih(nii<s is found throughout the United States with 

 the exception of Southern Florida, where it is replaced by the sub-species 

 lloridanus; and the Central Plains and Southern Rocky mountain regions, 

 where the American Raven {Cori'us corax) abounds." 



More or less abundant where-ever found as a resident (^r as a migrant, 

 with but one common name, it is perhaps better known to a larger num- 

 ber of people than any other species indigenous to North America. 



Held up as emblematic of the fallen, defeated, or unfortunate, the 

 embodiment of cunning and cruelty, and published throughout the land 

 as the personification of a knave and thief ; is it any wonder that the 

 ornithologist hesitates to defend the bird whose character is painted as 

 black as its plumage ? Like the Blue Jay, whom ignorance and super- 

 stition has accused of " carrying sticks to the devil," he is looked upon 

 as the representation of evil, a sort of visible demon ; and if he is not 

 just going into mischief, he is popularly supposed to be just returning 

 from it. Persecuted on every hand for many decades, in the East, it is a 

 wonder that the species has not become exterminated. It has certainly 

 decreased in Southern Pennsylvania, though almost imperceptibly, during 

 the last fifteen years. Harmless, and e\en beneficial two-thirds of the 

 year, prejudice against it begins to wane. 



It is not my aim to justify the destruction wrought h\ these birds upon 

 the cultivated fruit, grain and vegetables, or the eggs and young of wild 

 and domestic birds, for I know it to be considerable at certain seasons of 

 the year ; but I fully believe the benefits derived from their destruction 

 of injurious insects, rodents, etc , and their work as scavengers, largely 

 offsets the damage done by them, if it does not indeed over-balance it. 

 This applies to such districts as do not contain an over abundance of the 

 birds. 



To the bird's habitual watchfulness and acute senses, the situation of 

 its nest, and to its breeding in the busiest time of the vear. can be at- 



