32 Bird -Lore 



' f AW at which all the Crows rise and fly to the woods. Although the 

 Crows do considerable damage to the farmer in various ways, they do 

 great good in destroying the enemies of his crops. 



The Crow is as great a thief as the Bluejay in stealing birds' eggs and 

 young. Though it will ravage any small bird's nest it can get at, the 

 nest of the Robin, Wood Thrush, Catbird and Dove are the ones most 

 often attacked. A curious thing about its egg-sucking is that it can 

 pierce the egg with its bill and carry it away to some secluded spot to 

 eat it. 



In Pennsylvania its harsh Ka, Ka, Ka-a-a may be heard nearly all 

 months of the year, but in the early spring it makes an effort to sing, 

 making a noise similar to young Crows that have just left the nest. 

 After the warm days come in April, when nesting, in contrast to their 

 noisy cawings earlier in the season, they are silent and but little seen in 

 the open fields from then until their young are hatched. They fly low, 

 flitting like silent, black shadows among the bare-branched trees. I have 

 watched them carrying the sticks for their nests in their bills; some were 

 very heavy but they did not seem to mind the weight, so busy and happy 

 were they at their work, as they wound around among the trees to mis- 

 lead the observer as to their nesting place. The beech trees are most 

 often selected for nesting in, — those that are scraggy and crotched with 

 plenty of limbs to hide the nest. Although the nest is usually placed 

 forty to sixty feet above the ground, I have seen them not more than 

 twelve feet. The nest, a bulky structure, composed of about a peck of 

 sticks, twigs, leaves and bark, is lined with horse-hair. The walls are 

 often about five inches thick, one foot high and eight inches across. 

 In this brush -heap the old mother Crow quietly sits from two to three 

 weeks on eggs that vary considerably in size and color. The eggs, three 

 to six in number, are about I / 2 inches in length by 1% inches in 

 diameter. In color they are light greenish spotted with brown, black and 

 purple. 



When very young the Crow is anything but pretty, being mostly 

 mouth, legs, and stubby pin feathers, but it is, not long before his feathers 

 grow out nice, black and shiny, and he learns to fly. 



After the nesting season is over the Crows spend the night in large 

 numbers in thick forests. Such a place is called a Crow roost. As each 

 Crow arrives he is greeted with loud Ka-ings. 



In the autumn the Crows flock together and fly about the fields, 

 occasionally stopping in some tall trees seemingly to discuss some subject. 

 At last they go to the forest, put a young Crow on guard, then have a 

 lively meeting. They all talk at once until they seem to decide upon 

 some plan, then move on, only to repeat it. In very cold weather the 

 Crow goes southward, but soon returns to his old haunts. 



