• THE AMERICAN CROW. 409 



knife as before, it bit the person's hand so hard that it caused him to (h-op 

 the knife, which was quickly picked up by the l)ird, wlio tlien flew away witli it. 

 This ]\it]e incident phiinly shows its reasoninjj;- powers. 



In tlie mixed woods near HoHand Patent, New York, a species of Helix is 

 very abundant, and one finds many empty sliells from which the animal has 

 been extracted by these birds. Apparently nothing seems to aftbi-d moi-e satis- 

 faction to a Crow than to be able to harass every Owl it may see, as well as 

 the larger Tlawks, but occasionally it pays rather dearlv for such sport. 



Mr. J. W. Preston, of Baxter, Iowa, writes me about these birds as follows: 

 "One winter morning, while on my way to a country school, where I was teach- 

 ing at the time, a Crow was worrying a Red-tailed Hawk, and as it dai'ted at 

 the fleeing bird it made a cpiick grasp, turning- completely over in mid-air, but 

 succeeded in catching the Crow, which it bore down to the ground dead. 



"I have seen a Crow carry a piece of meat quite a long distance in its 

 claws. The Crow is terribly destructive to young birds and eggs in the nest. 

 It is painful to see their havoc and hear the pitiful cries of the parent l)irds. 

 One such occurrence noted was that of a pair of Red-eved Vireos followino- close 

 after the Crow, scolding and crying as their nest and 3-oung birds were being 

 carried across the field, a choice morsel for young Crows. 



"The loss occasioned to farmers from their habit of carrying awav eggs is 

 very considerable. I remember a brood of fourteen plump young chicks that 

 were all devoured by the daring fellows. I had allowed them to nest and rear 

 their young in a grove 10 rods from the door, and thus the}' repaid the kindness. 

 I have seen them feed from the raw back of a live hog which had accidentally 

 been left out of shelter and had been somewhat frozen. 



"In a woods near our home was a famous Crow's roost. During the winter 

 of lS91-i)2 the number was estimated at forty thousand birds. Aliout sunset 

 thev came in small flocks and straggling companies from long distances awav, 

 gathering into great flocks on pastures and meadows, so tliick as to look like 

 plowed land. In the dusk of evening the trees on a whole hillside appeared 

 like a dark bank, so vast ^vas the rooker}'. We ^'isited this resort often after 

 dark to hear the varied sounds that ever arose from the restless, scoldiup- birds, 

 whose voices were easily heard a mile distant. A whistle or shout was cause for 

 alarm, and the entire flock would rise up like a dark cdoud, and the beating of 

 Avings sounded like a strong wind. Sometimes they would fly a mile ofl', and, 

 returning, circle about and begin settling much as Chimney Swallows do, 

 striking each other and the branches with their wings; the din of (piurreling for 

 places, changing, and flying up and down was ternble; some cawed loudl\-, 

 others nuiffled the tones; some imitated the cry of a child, and some the squawk 

 of a chicken; but the combined eff"ect was a vast, weird wail that reverberated 

 through the forest and died away on the night winds." 



In the West I have never seen any very large Crow roosts in wintt^r, altliough 

 the birds were quite couamon at Fort Lapwai, Idaho; Camp Harnev, Oregon, 

 and in the Walla Walla Valley, Washington, at all seasons. In ( "ahfoi iiia thev are 

 also coiuinon in flic larger ri\('r bottoms, l)ut on tlic wliolc are rathci- iiT('<)ularlv 



