108 RAMBLES OF 



them ; and if he can see the young, he is tolerably sure 

 of them all, because of their inability to fly or change 

 place readily. 



The time of the year in which the farmers suffer most 

 from them is in the spring, before their enormous congre- 

 gations disperse, and when they are rendered voracious 

 by the scantiness of their winter fare. Woe betide the 

 corn field which is not closely watched, when the young 

 grain begins to shoot above the soil! If not well guarded, 

 a host of these marauders will settle upon it at the first 

 light of the dawn, and before the sun has risen far above 

 the horizon, will have plundered every shoot of the germi- 

 nating seed, by first drawing it skilfully from the moist 

 earth by the young stalk, and then swallowing the grain. 

 The negligent or careless planter, who does not visit his 

 field before breakfast, finds, on his arrival, that he must 

 either replant his corn, or relinquish hopes of a crop; 

 and without the exertion of due vigilance, he may be 

 obliged to repeat this process twice or thrice the same 

 season. Where the crows go to rob a field in this way, 

 they place one or more sentinels, according to circum- 

 stances, in convenient places, and these are exceedingly 

 vigilant, uttering a single warning call, which puts the 

 whole to flight the instant there is the least appearance 

 of danger or interruption. Having fixed their sentinels, 

 they begin regularly at one part of the field, and pursu- 

 ing the rows along, pulling up each shoot in succession, 

 and biting off the corn at the root. The green shoots 



