BIRDS. 67 



the habit of snatching off, when he can elude the vigilance of the 

 mother hen, who often proves too formidable for him. 



The crow himself sometimes falls a prey to the superior strength 

 and rapacity of the great owl, whose weapons of offence are bv far 

 the more formidable of the two. 



Towards the close of summer, the parent crows, with their new 

 families, forsaking their solitary lodgings, collect together, as if by 

 previous agreement, when evening approaches. About an hour 

 before sunset, they are first observed, flying, somewhat in Indian 

 file, in one direction, at a short height above the tops of the trees, 

 silent and steady, keeping the general curvature of the ground, 

 continuing to pass sometimes till after sunset, so that the whole line 

 of march would extend for many miles. This circumstance, so 

 familiar and picturesque, has not been overlooked by the poets, in 

 their descriptions of a rural evening. 



Crows form large roosts and dwell in them in immense numbers. 

 A large one appears to be the grand rendezvous, or head-quarters, 

 of the greater part of the crows within forty or fifty miles of the 

 spot. The noise created by these multitudes, both in their evening 

 assembly and reascension in the morning, and the depredations 

 they commit in the immediate neighborhood of a great resort, are 

 almost incredible. Whole fields of corn are sometimes laid waste 

 by thousands alighting on it at once, with appetites whetted by the 

 fast of the preceding night ; and the utmost vigilance is unavailing 

 to prevent, at le"ast, a partial destruction of this their favorite grain. 

 Like the stragglers of an immense, undisciplined, and rapacious 

 army, they spread themselves over the fields, to plunder and des- 

 troy wherever they alight. It is here that the character of the 

 crow is universally execrated ; and to say to the man who has lost 

 his crop of corn by these birds, that crows are exceedingly useful 

 for destroying vermin, would be as consolatory as to tell him who 

 had just lost his house and furniture by the flames, that fires are 

 excellent for destroying bugs. 



So universal is the hatred to crows, that few states have neg- 

 lected to offer rewards for their destruction. In the United States, 

 they have been repeatedly ranked in our laws with the wolves, the 

 panthers, foxes, and squirrels, and a proportionable premium offered 

 for their heads, to be paid by any justice of the peace to whom 

 they are delivered. On all these accounts, various modes have 

 been invented for capturing them. They have been taken in clap- 

 nets, commonly used for taking pigeons ; two or three live crows 



