39 



stick. After this plaster of Paris or wood ashes are stirred in 

 until the corn is well coated with it. When this is done, however, 

 the planter cannot be used, and the corn must be planted by hand. 

 For this reason many prefer to feed the crows with soaked corn 

 during the time when the newly planted corn is subject to their 

 attack. When this plan is followed the corn may be planted with 

 the planter and a little soaked corn scattered daily around the bor- 

 ders of the field. This plan is said to give good satisfaction. In 

 this way a few quarts of corn have been found sufficient to prevent 

 the depredations of the crow in a corn field of eight or ten acres. 



If the common king birds {Tyrannus tyrannus) are not driven 

 away from the farm or field, because of their real or supposed 

 depredations among the bees, they will keep the crow away from 

 the vicinity of the farm buildings and fruit orchard, where, if the 

 smaller birds are encouraged to nest, the services of the crow will 

 not be usually needed during the nesting season. The king birds 

 protect not only their own eggs and young but those of wild birds 

 and poultry. 



Crows may be readily poisoned by soaking corn in strychnine, 

 and after a few have been poisoned in this way the others usually 

 forsake the field. But such uses of poison are prohibited by law, 

 and the destruction of the crow or its exile from the field are not 

 usually to be .desired. Scarecrows of various kinds may be used 

 when corn is in the milk, to keep crows from the fields. 



Is THE Crow a Friend? 

 The question, Is the crow a friend or an enemy to the Massa- 

 chusetts farmer? can only be answered by an exact knowledge of 

 what constitutes its food at all hours of the day, at all seasons of 

 the year and under changing conditions. This must be supple- 

 mented by an exact knowledge of the economic value of the plants 

 and animals on which it feeds. Therefore, to answer this question 

 by a scientific investigation with even approximate accuracy would 

 be the work of years. The crow, unlike many other birds, is almost 

 omnivorous, feeding on anything, living or dead, which it can utilize 

 as food. A species which can adapt itself to all kinds of food is 

 likely to remain a stable factor in any fauna, as it is far better able 

 to maintain its normal numbers without great fluctuations than a 

 bird which is by nature obliged to depend on a more limited diet. 

 The omnivorous species, always finding sustenance, either vegeta- 

 ble or animal, are enabled to maintain their numbers, forming a 

 standing army always at hand to attack any great outbreak of in- 

 jurious mammals, reptiles or insects, or even to clear the land of 

 carrion. 



