APPENDIX. 373 



dred and fifty replies to the question covering the subject of damage to domesticated 

 fowls and wild birds only five are positively favorable to the crow. Seventy others 

 are negatively favorable in that they report no injury observed, without, however, 

 giving any indication of the extent of the opportunities for observation. The reports 

 of damage come from all parts of the United States and Canada where crows are 

 found, and as a rule the notes are clear and exact 



As one result of all the information thus far collected it may be stated that the 

 common crow is a serious enemy of poultry, all the more dangerous because so often 

 unsuspected, and because of its remarkable cunning and stealth. It is also a skilful 

 and inveterate robber of the nests and eggs of wild birds. 



The entire evidence submitted on this subject is well worth reading, but lack of 

 space forbids the insertion of more than a few examples under each of two heads. 



DESTRUCTION OF THE EGGS AND YOUNG OF POULTRY. 



More than one-third of all the reports relating to damage to poultry specify fre- 

 quent or serious loss. It appears from these notes that not only does the crow rob 

 the hens, ducks, and turkeys which steal their nests in the brush, woods, or mead- 

 ows, away from the farm-yard, but it frequently comes within a few steps of the 

 house or barn, destroying all nests not absolutely inaccessible to it or snatching up 

 the downy young about the very doors. Usually such visits are made very early in 

 the morning, or at times when no one is at hand to prevent the theft, but frequently 

 the robber becomes emboldened by success and makes his visits in the middle of 

 the day and with apparent disregard of all danger. Moreover, as in the case of some 

 hawks and dogs, certain individuals become particularly addicted to chicken steal- 

 ing, and return day, after day to the same place, seldom failing to secure a victim at 

 each visit 



The following notes from different parts of the country will serve to illustrate the 

 crow's methods in relation to eggs and chickens : 



From Owen Durfee, Fall River, Mass.: 



May 5 [18881, while walking by a farm-house near the city, I saw a crow sail over the house 

 and finally settle down on a stonewall about one hundred feet from the house, and begin watch- 

 ing the young chickens running about in the lot and through the wall under him. One of the 

 chickens ran under him, and after eyeing it a moment, he turned to the next one, which was 

 perhaps a week or ten days old. When this one was about six feet from him, he dropped down 

 over it and struck at it two or three times with his beak. Then he acted as though about to eat 

 it on the spot, but a young rooster running at him, he picked up the chicken and carried it off 

 still squeaking in his beak. 



From William H. Lewis, Pawtucket, R. I. : 



1 have known the common crow to take chicks when they were from one to six weeks old. I 

 know of a case where twenty have been lost this season. 



From H. Neherling, Freistatt, Mo*. : 



I have frequently observed crows stealing the eggs from my poultry-yard. They do this very 

 slyly and quietly. As soon as the eggs are hatched they carry off young chickens whenever they 

 can get them. With the exception of Cooper's Hawk I do not know such a bold robber as the 

 crow. One day in April one of these birds perched on the fence, only a few steps from my house. 

 An old hen with about a dozen chickens which were only a few days old was in my barn-yard. 

 Suddenly the crow swooped down, caught a chicken with its bill, and went off, flying away near 

 the ground. In a few weeks the crows carried off about twenty chickens, which varied in age 

 from one day to four weeks. 



From H. R. Landis, Landis Valley, Pa.: 



When the young are hatched the crows are very bold, coming up to buildings, and in one case 

 that come under my notice they took from one to four chickens each morning, nearly annihilat. 

 ing a brood of about one hundred. 



From J. W. Van Kirk, Milton, Pa. : 



I have seen crows catch young chickens, and frequently have seen them carrying off eggs of 

 both the domestic fowl and wild birds. We have had on different occasions whole nests of sit- 

 ting turkeys and chickens robbed by them. In some cases the eggs were taken from under the 

 hens while on their nests. 



