BIRDS. 155 



1 lie rook leads the way in another, but a more liarmless train, 

 that liave no carnivorous appetites, but only feed upon insects 

 and corn. The Royston (or hooded) crow is about the size of 

 the two former. The breast, belly, back, and upper part of the 



most destructive to the corn fields, iigg'mg up the newly planted grains of 

 maize, pullinff up by the roots those that have begun to veg-etate, and thus 

 frequently obliging the farmer to rei)laiit, or lose the benefit of the soil ; and 

 this sometimes twice, and even three times, occasioning a considerable ad- 

 ditional expense, and inequality of harvest. No mercy is now shown him. 

 The myriads of worms, moles, mice, caterpillars, grubs, and beetles, which 

 he has destroyed, are altogether overlooked on these occasions. Detected in 

 robbing the hens' nests, pulling up the corn, and killing the young chickens, 

 he is considered as an outlaw, and sentenced to destruction. But the great 

 difficulty is, how to put this sentence in execution. In vain the gunner 

 skuJks along the hedges and fences ; his faithful sentinels, planted on soma 

 conunanding point, raise tlie alarm, and disappoint vengeance of its object. 

 The coast again clear, he returns once more in silence to finish the repast 

 he had begun. Sometimes he approaches the farm house by stealth, in 

 gearch of young chickens, which he is in the habit of snatching off, when he 

 can elude the vigilance of the mother hen, which often proves too formidable 

 for him. A few days ago, a crow was observed eagerly attempting to seize 

 some young chickens in an orchard, near the room where 1 write ; but these 

 clustering close round the hen, she resolutely defended thera, drove the 

 crow into an apple tree, whither she instantly pursued hira with such spirit 

 and intrepidity, that he was glad to make a speedy retreat, and abandon his 

 design. 



The crow himself sometimes falls a prey to the superior strength and ra- 

 pacity of the great owl, whose weapons of offence are by far the more for- 

 midable of the two. 



Towards the close of summer, the parent crows, with their new families, 

 forsaking their solitary lodgings, collect together, as if by previous agree- 

 ment, when evening approaches. About an hour before sun-set, they are first 

 observed, flying, somewhat in Indian file, in one direction, at a short height 

 above the tops of the trees, silent and steady, Tveeping the general curvature " 

 of the ground, continuing to pass sometimes till after sun-sot, so that the 

 whole line of march would extend for many miles. This circumstance, so 

 familiar and picturesque, has not been overlooked by the poets, in their 

 descriptions of a rural evening. Burns, in a single line, has finely sketched 

 it: 



The blackening trains of craws tfl their repose. 



The most noted crow roost that I am acquainted with is near Newcastle, 

 on an island in the Delaware. It is there known by the name of the Pea 

 Pat(!h, and is a low flat alluvial spot, of a few acres, elevated but a little 

 above high water mark, and covered with a thick growth of reeds. This 

 appears to be the grand rendezvous, or head-quarters, of the greater part 

 of the crows within forty or fifty miles of the spot. It is entirely destitute 

 of trees, the crows alighting and nestling among the reeds, which by these 

 means are broken dou-n and matted tot^ether. The noise created by thoae 



