THE AMERICAN CROW 



■ Male and Female — All black with steel gray or purple 

 reflections. Length, sixteen to eighteen inches. Range 

 throughout North America from Hudson Bay to Gulf of 

 Mexico. Migrations in March and October but many of the 

 birds remain in this latitude throughout the entire year. 



The nest is built in trees and about thirty feet up from 

 the ground. It is bulky, being made of sticks and lined with 

 leaves, grasses and mosses. Eggs, four to six, generally bluish- 

 green, sometimes white, marked with brown, 2.00 x l.SO 

 inches. 



Although this is one of our best known birds, he has few 

 friends among birds or men. Nearly all of the smaller birds 

 fear him and dread his approach, while every farmer hates him 

 intensely. This bird delights in eating the eggs and the young 

 of smaller birds, but the one thing for which he is most dis- 

 liked is his love for corn. As soon as the slender shoots of this 

 grain appear an inch or two above the earth, the crow pulls 

 up the tender plants that he may eat the kernels at the root. 

 If the damage done by them were not so great, it would be 

 amusing to watch a flock of these birds, as with stately step 

 they follow the rows of com, stopping at every hill only long 

 enough to jerk up the gleaming blades. Day after day, this 

 destruction goes on until the plant has become too large for 

 them to destroy. 



The farmer often tries to shoot these thieves but he 

 rarely succeeds ; for they are wise enough to leave one of their 

 number in the top of a nearby tree to watch for his approach. 

 Two or three loud cries of caw, caw, caw from the watchman 



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