200 VEUTEBUATA. 



of its ol>)oot. The coast again clear, lie returns once more in silence, to fuii.sh the repast he had 

 bosxun. Sonietinies he approaches the farm-house by stealth, in search of young chickens, which 

 he is in the habit of snatching otf, when he can elude the vigilance of the mother hen, who often 

 proves too forniiclal>le for him. 



"So univei-sal is lln' hatred to crows, that few states, either here or in Europe, have neglected 

 to oft'er rewards for their destruction. Tn the United States they liave been repeatedly ranked 

 in our laws with the wolves, the panthers, foxes, and squirrels, and a proportionable premium 

 otlered for their heads, to be paid by any justice of the peace to whom they arc delivered. On 

 all these accounts, various modes have been invented for capturing them. They have been taken 

 in clap-ni'ts, commonly used for taking pigeons, two or three live crows being previously procured 

 as decoys, or, as they are called, stool-crows. Corn has been steeped in a strong decoction of 

 hellebore, which, when eaten by them, produces a giddiness, and finally, it is said, death. Pieces 

 of paper formed into the shape of a hollow cone, besmeared within with bird-lime, and a grain or 

 two of corn dropped on the bottom, have also been adopted. Numbers of these being placed on 

 the ground, where corn has been j)laiitcd, the crows attempting to reach the grains are instantly 

 hoodwinked, fly directly upward to a great height, but generally descend near the spot whence 

 they rose, and are easily taken. The reeds of their roosting places are sometimes set on fire 

 during a dark night, and the gunners having previously posted themselves around, the crows rise 

 in great uproar, and amid the general consternation, by the light of the burnings, hundreds of 

 thera are shot down. 



"Crows have been employed to catch crows by the following stratagem : a live crow is pinned 

 by the wings down to the ground on his back by means of two sharp, forked sticks. Thus situ- 

 ated, his cries arc loud and incessant, particularly if any other crows are within view. These, 

 sweeping down about him, arc instantly grappled by the prostrate prisoner, by the same instinct- 

 ive impulse that urges a drowning person to grasp at every thing within his reach. Having dis- 

 engaged the game from his clutches, the trap is again ready for another experiment ; and by pin- 

 ning down each captive successively, as soon as taken, in a short time you will probably have a 

 large flock screaming above you, in concert with the outrageous prisoners below.* Many farm- 

 ers, however, are content with hanging up the skins or dead carcasses of crows in their corn-fields, 

 in terrorem ; others depend altogether on the gun, keeping one of their people supplied with am- 

 munition, and constantly on the look-out. In hard winters the crows suffer severely, so that they 

 have been observed to fall down in the fields, and the roads, exhausted with cold and hunger. In 

 one of these winters, and during a long-continued, deep snow, more than six hundred crows were 

 shot on the carcass of a dead horse, which was placed at a proper distance from the stable, from a 

 hole of which the discharges were made. The premiums awarded for these, with the price paid 

 for the quills, produced nearly as much as the original value of the horse, besides, as the man 

 himself assured mc, saving feathers sufficient for filling a bed. 



"The crow is easily raised and domesticated, and it is only when thus rendered unsuspicious 

 of, and placed on terms of familiarity with man, that the true traits of his genius and native dis- 

 position fully develop themselves. In this state he soon learns to distinguish all the members 

 of the family ; flies toward the gate screaming at the approach of a stranger ; learns to open the 

 door by alighting on the latch ; attends regularly at the stated hours of dinner and breakfast, 

 which he appears punctually to recollect; is extremely noisy and loquacious ; imitates the sounds 

 of various words pretty distinctly ; is a great thief and hoarder of curiosities, hiding in holes, cor- 

 ners, and crevices every loose article he can carry otf, particularly small pieces of metal, corn, 

 bread, and food of all kinds; is fond of the society of his master, and will know him even after a 

 long absence, of which the following is a remarkable instance, and may be relied on as a fact : 

 a very worthy gentleman, who resided on the Delaware, a few miles below Easton, had raised a 



* In New England scare-crows in the form of ragged, beggarly men are generally adopted to save the recently 

 planted corn from the crows and blackbirds, many of these specimens of art displaying considerable humor; some- 

 times a windmill with a clapper is set in the field ; shingles and pieces of tin suspended by a twine, and whirling in 

 the wind, are common. But the cheapest and best defence of the corn-field is no doubt a scries of lines of twine strung 

 across the field. A kind of twino for this express purpose is manufactured and sold in the country stores. 



