308 The Crow 



of most unusual wisdom, his race would long since have passed away. 

 Think of the hundreds of thousands of farmers who, through the cen- 

 turies, have tried every possible means of destroying these birds ! No 

 law in any State protects them, and many times bounties have been paid 

 for their heads, thus offering a special inducement to men to kill them. 

 Guns, traps, poison, and destruction of their nests have all alike been in 

 vain, for the Crows live on in apparently undiminished numbers. 



As a matter of fact, the Crow is not altogether a bad bird, and if he 

 were understood better I have little doubt that he would have far more 



friends than foes. He eats a great many harmful 

 Insect Food insects, and in this way makes amends for his sins in 



the cornfield. May-beetles, June-bugs, and other 

 insects of a similar character, are eaten by Crows in great numbers dur- 

 ing the spring and early summer. Some observers state that baby Crows 

 are fed to a very large extent on this kind of diet. Crows like grass- 

 hoppers, especially in the spring, and annually consume large quantities 

 of them. They eat also, among other objects, such queer foods as frogs, 

 toads, and young turtles, and even small snakes find favor in their eyes. 

 The wild fruit they take is mostly such as that of the dogwood and the 

 sour gum. Sumac-berries of different kinds are eaten. In fact, the Crow 

 will sample almost anything that looks as if it might be good to consume, 

 such as frozen apples, pumpkins, turnips, potatoes, or any other fruit or 

 vegetable that may be discarded and left to lie in the orchard or field. 

 In cold, snowy weather, food sometimes becomes very scarce. On such 

 occasions Crows will feast on any dead animal to be found, such as a 

 horse or a cat. They sometimes go down to the shore and hunt for clams, 



crayfish, and the bodies of dead fish that have washed 

 A Scavenger ashore. This practice, however, may more often be 



observed in the Fish Crow, a bird slightly smaller 

 than our common Crow, and found chiefly along the sea-coast, and 

 about the larger lakes and water-courses. 



The Crow, in its various forms, has a wide distribution throughout 

 North America ; and there is hardly a boy or girl who does not know its 

 cry, or who is not familiar with the sight of the big, black fellow flying 

 over the fields or resting for a moment on the top of a tree by the road- 

 side. It is undoubtedly the most common and most generally known 

 bird in the United States. 



Classification and Distribution 



The Crow belongs to the Order Passercs, Family Conidcc, Subfamily Corrince, 

 and Genus Corvus. Its scientific name is Corpus brachyrhynchos. Its range in 

 summer covers the whole continent northward to Newfoundland and Central 

 Quebec in the East, and southern Mackenzie in the Northwest ; and it remains in 

 winter throughout the whole United States and southern Ontario. In addition to 

 the eastern type, two subspecies are recognized. C. b. hesperus, of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains and Pacific Coast, and C. b. pascuus of Florida. 



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