Jays and Crows 189 



To my certain knowledge a Grouse had her 

 nest on the ground, in part of an old tree-top 

 blown from a giant white-oak and in that oak a 

 Crow had her nest and the bad nest-robbing Crow 

 never molests the eggs or callow young of her 

 nearby neighbor. And I have a hen-house on the 

 edge of a big woods where Crows have nested for 

 the last quarter of a century, but to the best of 

 my knowledge and belief, no egg or young chicken 

 has ever been disturbed. As a matter of fact, 

 no Crow could possibly carry away a hen's egg, 

 and they have no talons. So far as I know they 

 prefer their game and meat a little high. The 

 Crow being a bird of uncanny intelligence, super- 

 natural cunning, seeing and hearing everything 

 going on in his neighborhood ; no nest could be hid- 

 den and none would escape if he made a business 

 of robbing them. According to the Scotch verdict, 

 the charge against him is : "Not proven." 



Now the farmers' charge against him is not as 

 a nest robber, so much as a corn puller; pulling 

 the young corn when it first comes up. It would 

 be folly to allow my client to plead not guilty to 

 this charge, for it happens to be true. In certain 

 localities and under certain conditions, the Crow 

 develops an appetite for the well-soaked, soft and 

 mushy germinating kernel, and damages the com- 

 ing crop. Some years he pulls no corn, and in 

 some States he is a pest and not in others, and the 



