434 Practical Game Preserving. 



discover a nest, whether being in actual search of food 

 or in hurried flight, in either case it drops down with a view 

 to obtain a goodly share of the succulent food, be the eggs 

 never so " strawey," or already containing chicks ; perhaps, 

 in the latter case, continuation of its flight being necessary, 

 it abjures the temptation pro tern., to return speedily at 

 the first available opportunity. 



Young birds most often fall victims to the crow's rapacity 

 when sufficiently old to leave their parents during the day- 

 time, only going back to their protection at intervals and 

 at night. Under such circumstances crows pick up a good 

 number of young partridges and pheasants, and, perhaps, even 

 more than the magpie or jay, for if this bird have a prefer- 

 ence, it is for young game of the age indicated as well as 

 chickens of similar tender years and confiding nature. 

 Chickens and ducklings, when first allowed to roam about 

 the fields, are very liable to be captured, killed, and carried 

 off by the carrion crow ; indeed, in some districts extreme 

 vigilance is necessary, while even in localities where the 

 bird is not plentiful and comparatively unhurtful, there are 

 sure to be one or two wary old crows about, which in- 

 variably turn up at opportune moments, and, in spite of 

 close vigilance, will manage to snap up probably "the finest 

 one of the lot," returning, perhaps, with cool imperturba- 

 bility, and successfully carrying off " another beauty." 

 Wherever many young pheasants are reared and allowed 

 out of the coops when small, these sombre thieves will be 

 on the alert, and many, indeed, are the raids they annually 

 commit in this direction. In addition to thus inflicting 

 loss, the crow is a remarkably persevering thief in respect 



