THE CROW AND ITS RELATION TO MAN. 35 



From North Dakota, Alfred Eastgate, warden of the Stump Lake 

 National Bird Reservation, writes: 



Last summer I saw a colony of between 300 and 400 nests of the black-crowned 

 night heron entirely cleaned out by the crows. Ten per cent of the eggs of all 

 the birds are taken by the crows that nest about the shores of Stump Lake. I 

 have seen 29 nests of canvas-backs in one marsh eaten by them in one day. 

 (1912.) 



Eobert P. Sharpies, of West Chester, Pa., finds a mitigating cir- 

 cumstance in the raiding of early layings of heron eggs which would 

 indicate that the depredations of crows may not always result in dire 

 consequences. In a letter to Dr. B. H. Warren he says : 



I do not object to crows raiding the early heronries. I believe that nature 

 has made a mistake in teaching these birds to nest so soon. The first eggs are 

 always laid so that when the young hatch they are liable to destruction from 

 storms. Then the old birds will not raise a second brood. But if the first-laid 

 eggs are destroyed soon after deposition, then a second laying comes near a month 

 later, and the birds have a far better chance of arriving at maturity. ( 1914. ) 



Numerous other reports of serious inroads upon herons and marsh- 

 nesting birds hare been received from the South Atlantic coastal plain, 

 but as the observers of such occurrences seldom fail to differentiate 

 between the two species of crows inhabiting this area, these citations 

 are omitted. 



From undeniable evidence furnished by stomach analysis, to- 

 gether with corroborative notes obtained from a multitude of reli- 

 able observers, it must be concluded that the destruction of other 

 native birds and their eggs by the crow is a noxious trait of no small 

 importance. Though all these species had been able to withstand 

 this natural drain upon their numbers while under primitive environ- 

 ment, the many added taxes laid upon them by modern conditions, 

 due to various agricultural activities, the draining of marshlands, 

 the cutting of timber tracts wherein they had formerly nested, and 

 the reduction of their numbers by hunting, have placed these birds 

 in a disadvantageous position to resist the attack of their corvine 

 neighbors. 



The one circumstance which mitigates this evil is the fact that most 

 of the depredations upon eggs and very young birds are committed 

 during the breeding season of the crow, which is early enough to 

 permit practically all the birds suffering losses to raise a second 

 brood at a time when they need fear little from crows. This, no 

 doubt, is just what takes place in many suburban districts and in 

 breeding grounds of waterfowl, where every year crows secure much 

 food for their young, yet the species preyed upon are seldom exter- 

 minated. There can be no question, though, that in public parks, in 

 the vicinity of game farms, on game preserves, or other areas where 

 it is desirable to foster certain species in numbers abnormal to the 



