THE PERCHING BIRDS. 125 



It would seem entirely unnecessary to refer to the 

 Crow. Everybody knows the bird at sight and sup- 

 poses he knows the details of its mind, body, and 

 estate, but here " everybody" is mistaken. The orni- 

 thologist knows this bird, but the public do not. All 

 that can be said against it is rolled like a sweet morsel 

 under the tongue, but who has spoken in its favor ? 

 The Farmers' Clubs throughout the land and State 

 Legislatures and like learned bodies may declaim and 

 enact as they see fit, but the truth remains the truth. 

 The crow is a useful bird in spite of the mischief of 

 which it is guilty, and that is the sum and substance 

 of the whole matter; but if short-sighted farmers 

 will persist in persecuting these birds, and probably 

 they will to the end of time, it is to be hoped that they 

 will learn to discriminate between them and the Fish- 

 crow, which is as absolutely harmless as a swallow. 

 They are a Southern species, but come every March 

 into the Delaware Valley and remain until Septem- 

 ber. The impression that they come and go with 

 the shad and herring is altogether a mistake. Wil- 

 son, who first made known this species to naturalists, 

 gives an account of their gull-like habits as he saw 

 them in the South ; but here in the Delaware Valley 

 they are more crow-like and very seldom snatch 

 floating food from the surface of the water. They 

 are not shy, and after the hauling of the seine will 

 come very near to the fish-cabin and pick up such 

 refuse as it finds. The voice of this crow is quite 

 different from that of the common bird and yet not 

 easily described. The two must be compared and 

 then they will be readily recognized. The bird itself 

 11* 



