THE CARRION CROW. 99 



Boldness Mode of devouring muscles. 



smell gunpowder at a considerable distance, so 

 that it is extremely difficult to shoot them. 



" We once saw this bird," says Mr. Montagu, 

 " in pursuit of a pigeon, at which it made seve- 

 ral pounces like a hawk ; but the pigeon escaped 

 by flying in at the door of a house. We have 

 also seen it strike a pigeon dead, from the top of 

 a. barn." It is so bold a bird, that neither the 

 kite, the buzzard, nor the raven, approaches its 

 nest without being attacked and driven away. 

 When it has young it will even insult the pere- 

 grine falcon, and at one pounce frequently bring 

 that bird to the ground. 



When poultry lay their eggs in hedge-bottoms 

 or stack-yards, crows are often caught in the act 

 of devouring them. On the northern coast of 

 Ireland a friend of Dr. Darwin saw above a hun- 

 dred crows at once preying upon muscles: each 

 bird took a muscle up in the air twenty or forty 

 yards high, and let it fall on the stones, and thus 

 by breaking the shell, got possession of the 

 animal. 



In some parts of the East, these birds are so 

 familiar, and even audacious, that they com- 

 monly frequent the courts of the houses belong- 

 ing to the Europeans ; and as the servants are 

 carrying in dinner, will alight on the dishes, and 

 fly away with the meat, if not driven oft' by per- 

 sons who attend with sticks for that purpose. 



In some parts of North America they are very 

 numerous, and destroy the new-sown maize by 

 N 2 



