PASSERES — CORVID.-E — CORVUS. 
133 
The American species is supposed to differ from the common Carrion Crow of Europe, by 
its smaller size, different voice, gregarious habits, and shape of its tongue. They are for the 
most part constant residents in this State, but are less numerous in the northern and western 
districts, where they meet their powerful and unrelenting enemy, the Raven. Whenever the 
Crow appears, he is treated as a nuisance, and among the earliest laws passed in this State 
was one offering a reward for his head. Nothing escapes his rapacity. In the spring, when 
the farmer commences ploughing, the crow may be seen following in the furrows, picking up 
worms and the larvae of insects ; but here his useful services terminate. No sooner is the 
seed in the ground, than he commences digging it up and devouring it. He snatches up and 
devours young chickens, turkies and goslings ; dstroys every egg within his reach ; and when 
the indian corn has commenced ripening, he attacks it with unceasing activity. Various 
means have been devised to extirpate this public pest, but his natural sagacity generally con¬ 
trives to elude them all. To preserve the corn, it is usual to stir the seed in tar, and after¬ 
wards to roll it in gypsum, ashes or lime. The crow pulls up a few seeds, and finding them 
disagreeable, abandons the field. To preserve young broods of chickens, it is customary with 
some farmers to raise the guinea-fowl, whose unusual appearance and discordant cries 
frighten the crow. To protect the corn in the ear, various devices are employed, such as 
stuffed figures of men ; nets and lines suspended across the field ; miniature windmills with 
clappers attached, which make an incessant noise. Poisoning has been resorted to, but few 
are destroyed in this way. The seeds may be steeped in hellebore before planting, and 
lately a solution of strychnine has been recommended for the same purpose. A dead crow 
hung up in a cornfield frequently serves to prevent their approach; but the most efficacious 
mode I have seen adopted, is to keep a low smouldering fire in the field. On the coast of 
Long island, we have observed the crow to come with instinctive exactness to the seashore 
at low-water, and to retreat to the interior with the rise of the tide. One of the best papers 
on the habits of this bird is to be found in a small volume by Dr. Godman,* to which we 
recommend the reader. 
The Crow ranges and breeds from Texas to 74° north latitude. With us, it commences 
building its nest in the beginning of April; the eggs are brownish, tinged with green, with 
spots and dashes of dark brown. 
* Rambles of a Naturalist, Philad. 8vo. 
