BIRDS OF PEASEMARSH 



in bird-nesting. When food is scarce there is 

 not a nest on the hill-side the location of which 

 he does not know; he knows, too, when the 

 nestlings will be big enough to make a meal. 

 When a Crow is seen moving silently about 

 among the trees, usually in the early morning 

 or late in the day, one may be fairly sure of 

 the business he has in hand. 



During the last few years the Crows have 

 been very troublesome here. They are es- 

 pecially on watch for the young Robins, and 

 have been known to come up almost to the 

 house and carry off a Robin that had been for 

 some days out of the nest. They have done 

 this in spite of the most frantic efforts of the 

 old birds to ward them off. The smaller birds 

 are almost entirely at their mercy where 

 European Sparrows are allowed to nest about 

 the buildings, for it drives them farther out, 

 where they can have no protection. Since man 

 is responsible for the increase in the Crow 

 population, he owes it to the small birds to 

 step in and re-instate the balance of nature. 

 The Crow enemies cannot be brought back, but 

 the number of Crows can be lessened in every 

 district where they are too numerous. In coun- 

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