110 RAMBLES OF 



NO. XL 



It rarely happens that any of the works of nature are 

 wholly productive of evil, and even the crows, trouble- 

 some as they are, contribute in a small degree to the 

 good of the district they frequent. Thus, though they 

 destroy eggs and young poultry, plunder the cornfields, 

 and carry off whatever may serve for food, they also rid 

 the surface of the earth of a considerable quantity of 

 carrion, and a vast multitude of insects and their destruc- 

 tive larvsB. The crows are very usefully employed when 

 they alight upon newly ploughed fields, and pick up 

 great numbers of those large and long-lived worms, 

 which are so destructive to the roots of all growing vege- 

 tables ; and they are scarcely less so, when they follow 

 the seine haulers along the shores, and pick up the small 

 fishes, which would otherwise be left to putrify and load 

 the air with unpleasant vapours. Nevertheless, they be- 

 come far more numerous in some parts of the country 

 than is at all necessary to the good of the inhabitants, 

 and whoever would devise a method of lessening their 

 numbers suddenly, would certainly be doing a service to 

 the community. 



