PASSERES — CORVID.E — CORVUS. 133 



The American species is supposed to differ from the common Carrion Crow of Europe, by 

 its smaller size, different voice, gregarious habits, and shape of its tongue. They are for the 

 most part constant residents in this State, but are less numerous in the northern and western 

 districts, where they meet their powerful and unrelenting enemy, the Raven. Whenever the 

 Crow appears, he is treated as a nuisance, and among the earliest laws passed in this State 

 was one offering a reward for his head. Nothing escapes his rapacity. In the spring, when 

 the farmer commences ploughing, the crow may be seen following in the furrows, picking up 

 worms and the larvae of insects ; but here his useful services terminate. No sooner is the 

 seed in the ground, than he commences digging it up and devouring it. He snatches up and 

 devours young chickens, turkies and goslings ; dstroy s every egg within his reach ; and when 

 the indian corn has commenced ripening, he attacks it with unceasing activity. Various 

 means have been devised to extirpate this public pest, but his natural sagacity generally con- 

 trives to elude them all. To preserve the corn, it is. usual to stir the seed in tar, and after- 

 wards to roll it in gypsum, ashes or lime. The crow pulls up a few seeds, and finding them 

 disagreeable, abandons the field. To preserve young broods of chickens, it is customary with 

 some farmers to raise the guinea-fowl, whose unusual appearance and discordant cries 

 frighten the crow. To protect the corn in the ear, various devices are employed, such as 

 stuffed figures of men ; nets and lines suspended across the field ; miniature windmills with 

 clappers attached, which make an incessant noise. Poisoning has been resorted to, but few 

 are destroyed in this way. The seeds may be steeped in hellebore before planting, and 

 lately a solution of strychnine has been recommended for the same purpose. A dead crow 

 hung up in a cornfield frequently serves to prevent their approach ; but the most efficacious 

 mode I have seen adopted, is to keep a low smouldering fire in the field. On the coast of 

 Long island, we have observed the crow to come with instinctive exactness to the seashore 

 at low-water, and to retreat to the interior with the rise of the tide. One of the best papers 

 on the habits of this bird is to be found in a small volume by Dr. Godman,* to which we 

 recommend the reader. 



The Crow ranges and breeds from Texas to 74° north latitude. With us, it commences 

 building its nest in the beginning of April ; the eggs are brownish, tinged with green, with 

 spots and dashes of dark brown. 



* Rambles of a Naturalist, Philad. 8vo. 



