The Crow 



307 



have of the fact that they are near him is seeing a Crow fly swiftly and 

 noiselessly away among the tree-tops. 



For hundreds of years farmers have regarded the Crow as one of 

 their most annoying enemies. This is chiefly because the Crows dearly 

 love to pull up corn shortly after it has sprouted. They do this to get the 

 grain of seed-corn, which has become softened by contact with the soft 

 earth. Then, too, as the grain begins to germinate, the starch it con- 

 tains turns to sugar, and thus there is made a dainty 

 tidbit which is quite to the liking of a hungry Crow. His Foes 



Very naturally, therefore, the farmer seeks to rid the 

 neighborhood of these black-feathered visitors. Time and again he takes 

 his gun and sallies forth; but no sooner does he enter the field where the 



A CROW BROODING UPON ITS NEST 



birds are feeding than an old Crow, which has established himself ?.s a 

 sentinel on some tree or fence-stake, gives a warning "cow" that all of his 

 friends understand, and in a moment the entire flock takes flight to the 

 nearest woods, where they calmly await the departure of their disturber. 

 \ii\v and then the farmer or his boy, by hiding among the trees or 

 along a fence, succeeds in shooting a Crow. When this is accomplished, 

 the bird's body is often tied to a pole, which is then set up in the field 

 as a warning to the bird's fellows of the fate that awaits them if they 

 persist in returning. A chorus of jeering caws is 

 often the only answer the farmer gets for his trouble, Smartness 

 for let no one ever forget that the Crow is about the 

 smartest bird of which we have any knowledge. If he were not a bird 



