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Economic Status. The Raven eats both animal and vegetable food, 
but has a strong partiality for the former. It seeks the offal from the 
hunter’s dressed game, or the game itself if it is available. It lurks about 
the outskirts of bird rookeries and makes dashes for eggs and young. 
By the sea it searches the shores at low water for crabs and other sea 
life and for anything edible that may be washed up. Avoiding cultivation 
as it does it has little direct influence on the crops. 
488. American Crow. FR.—LA CORNEILLE D’AMERIQUE. Corvus brachyrhynchos 
L. 19-30. Plate XXV A. 
Distinctions. May be mistaken for Raven but distinguished from it by size and the 
absence of the long, pointed, lanceolate feathers on the throat. 
Field Marks. General appearance, with which one soon becomes very familiar. 
Nesting. In trees; in nest of sticks. 
Distribution. AU of temperate North America. 
SUBSPECIES. Two subspecies of American Crows occur in Canada, but in the 
east we have only the type form, the Eastern Crow. 
Whereas the Raven retreats before the advance of civilization, the 
Crow increases. It is omnivorous, feeding readily on anything from 
carrion to freshly sprouting corn. Without doubt the Crow has increased 
enormously in the country since the removal of the forests, and probably its 
advent in eastern Canada was coincident with the arrival of the white 
man. The Crow is a partial migrant. Most of the birds go south in 
winter, but slaughter-houses and garbage dumps in the neighbourhood of 
cities and towns have induced numbers to become permanent residents. 
Economic Status. The economic status of the Crow cannot be summed 
up in a few words. It undoubtedly does much good but it also does much 
harm. Moreover the harm is concentrated and easily measured whilst 
the good is scattered and not easily estimated. The detailed results of 
nearly a thousand stomach examinations and testimonies from all over 
North America are published in Bulletin No. 6 of the United States 
Department of Agriculture, by W. A. Barrows and E. A. Schwarz. The 
greatest complaint against the Crow arises from its fondness for sprouting 
grain, especially corn. Corn was found to constitute 29 per cent of its 
annual food and strangely enough, from May to August, constituted only 
from 8-4 to 17-7 per cent and was greatest in December, 48-2 per cent, 
when the grain must have represented gleanings from the bare fields. 
Insects form a large part of the Crow’s food and balancing the useful with 
the harmful species, the result is obviously in the bird’s favour. Mice and 
other rodents and reptiles are also eaten very extensively and are preferred 
to all other food. In the autumn, mast (acorns, beech-nuts, etc.) is eagerly 
sought. Judged by food habits alone, therefore, the Crow is a valuable 
bird. However, this is not all the tale, for the Crow does harm that cannot 
be overlooked. It matters little to a farmer that the Crows destroy all 
the cut worms in a field if they also pull all the grain. On the whole, there 
seems to be no very good reason for extending any greater measure of 
protection to the Crow; it is in no danger of extinction and probably needs 
to be controlled. 
FAMILY—ICTERIDH. AMERICAN STARLINGS. 
This family includes the Blackbirds, Orioles, and Meadowlarks, which 
are the American representatives of the European Starlings. They are 
closely related to the Sparrows and clear differentiation cannot be made 
