11 



ripe wheat and ing much and threshing out. more, 9O that it is lost t< 



lawful owner, it is not to In- wondered at that tin- tanii-T lo 

 - in his wrath that all hinls arc a nuisanc'- . hut these l>ir 



though, as thry have not ae.piired th.- knack < !' ad vertising it, their benefits are 

 quite overlooked. If their- led impart ia I ly it may be found that cv.-i. 



( 'rou . like another celebrated personage, is not .|iiit.- 90 black as h- 

 I do not think the merits of the crows, or ; my of th.- so-called blackbird family, 

 will he found sufficiently great to entitle them to protection, hut their faults 

 scarcely warrant their extermination, except in the cae of the cow-hi: 

 spoken of hereafter. 



Croiv. Twenty-five years ago the Crows of the Province of < >nr;n io were as 

 regularly migratory as the Robins. A few occasionally stayed through the winter 

 with us, and their doing so was considered a sign that we would have a mild 

 Beaaon. As the land has been brought under cultivation, and more particularly in 

 neighborhoods where market-gardening is carried on extensively, the number 

 remaining through the winter has steadily increased, so that the species may now 

 be considered a resident one. In the vicinity of Toronto vast flocks gather at the 

 <;lose of the autumn, feeding on the refuse vegetables left in the market gardens 

 outside the city, and resorting at night to some of the pine woods still left stand- 

 ing. In these they roost all through the winter. They may sometimes be pinched 

 by hunger, but, unless the snow becomes too deep, they can generally get at the 

 piles of manure drawn out on the market gardens, and other refuge left about 

 the land. At this time they do no harm, and probably a little good, as they pick 

 up many mice and insects in their foraging, but when spring opens they again 

 scatter over the country and seek their nesting places. Seeding operations are 

 now going on, and the first of the Crow's mischievous propensities asserts itself as 

 soon as the grain has absorbed sufficient moisture from the ground to become 

 and has slightly sprouted ; then it becomes a favorite morsel for the crows. ( Wn 

 is preferred to any other grain. I ha,ve rarely found any quantity of any other 

 grain in the stomach of a Crow, and even when the birds have been seen feeding 

 among the hills of sprouting corn and have been shot right on the spot, I have 

 always found the stomach contained quite as large an amount of insect remains 

 as of corn, the cut-worm forming one of the Crow's choicest articles of diet, and 

 the question arises as to whether it is not better to let the Crow have a little corn 

 rind get rid of the cut-worm, than to let the cut-worm take off a lot of corn if we 

 get rid of the crow. Later on I will say something about the history of this same 

 cut- worm. It is always wisest " of two evils to choose the least," and it must be 

 -conceded that the corn-eating propensity of the crow is an evil ; but it is certainly 

 less than the evil done by the cut-worm. So perhaps, so far as the Cr 



goes here, it would be as well to call the balance even and give the Crow the 



benefit of it. 



The next scene in the Crow's proceedings shows him with a lively and 

 decidedly hungry family of four or five little ones, whose cravings demand con- 

 stant attention from their parents ; the variety of food supplied to these insatiable 

 youngsters will vary somewhat according to the locality in which they are placed . 

 in any ease, no more grain will be taken by the parent birds: their food now will 

 consist entirely of insects, mice and the young of other birds. Nor will they stop 

 at the young if they can catch an adult small bird. Sometimes they will try to 

 elude tlie viligaiice of an old hen and will snatch up her chickens more adroitly 

 than any hawk : ducklings fall easy victims to their cunning. It is at this season 

 they do t he greatest amount of mischief, by destroying the nests and young of 

 more valuable birds, particularly of such as nest upon the ground. For this 



