320 CROW. . 
ing frequent excursions of half a mile or so in *ircuit, to reconnoitre ; 
and the instant he observes a person approachii g, he gives the alarm, 
when both male and female retire to a distance till the intruder has 
gone past. He also regularly carries food to his mate, while she is 
sitting ; occasionally relieves her; and, when she returns, again resigns 
up his post. At this time, also, as well as until the young are able to 
fly, they preserve uncommon silence, that their retreat may not be 
suspected. ae . o ; 
Tt isin the. month of May, and until the middle of June, that the 
Crow is most destructive to the corn-fields, digging up the newly 
planted grains of maize, pulling up by the roots those that have begun 
to vegetate, and thus frequently obliging the farmer to replant, or lose 
the benefit of the soil; and this sometimes twice, and even three times, 
occasioning a considerable additional expense, and inequality of har- 
vest. No mercy is now shown him. The myriads of worms, moles, 
mice, caterpillars, grubs, and beetles, which+he has destroyed, are 
altogether overlooked on these occasions. Detected in robbing the 
hens’ nests, pulling up the.corn, and killing the young chickens, he is 
considered as an outlaw, and sentenced to destruction. But the great 
difficulty is, how to put this sentence in execution. In vain the gun- 
ner skulks along the hedges and fences; his faithful sentinels, planted 
on some commanding point, raise the alarm, and disappoint vengeance 
of its object.. The coast again clear, he returns once more in silence, . 
to finish the repast he had begun. ‘Sometimes he approaches the farm- 
house by stealth, in search of young Chickens, which he is in the habit 
of snatching off, when he can elude the vigilance of the mother hen, 
who often proves too formidable for him. A few days ago, a Crow 
was observed eagerly attempting to seize some young Chickens in an 
orchard, near the room where 1 write; but these clustering close round 
the Hen, she resolutely defended them, drove the Crow into an apple- 
tree, whither she instantly pursued him with such spirit and intrepidity 
that he was glad to make a speedy retreat, and abandon his design. 
The Crow himself sometimes falls a prey to the superior strength 
and rapacity of the great Owl, whose weapons of offence are by far the 
more formidable of the two.* 
* « A few years ago,” says an obliging correspondent, “ T resided on the banks of 
the Hudson, about seven miles from the city of New York. Not far from the place 
of my residence ‘was a pretty thick wood or swamp, in which great numbers of 
Crows, who used to: cross the river from the opposite shore, were accustomed to 
roost. Returning homeward one afternoon, from a shooting excursion, I had’occa- 
sion to pass through this swamp. It was near sunset, and troops of Crows were 
flying in all directions over my head. While engaged in observing their flight, and 
endeavoring to select from among them an object to shoot at; my ears were sud- 
denly assailed by the. distressful cries of a Crow, who was evidently struggling 
under the talons’ of a merciless and rapacious enemy. I hastened to the spor 
whence’ the sounds proceeded, and, to my great surprise, found a Crow lying on 
the ground, just expiring, and, seated upon he body of the yet warm and bleeding. 
quarry, a large brown Owl, who was beginning to make a meal of the unfortunate 
robber of cornfields, Perceiving my approach, he forsook his prey with, evident 
reluctance, and flew into a tree at a little distance, where he sat watching all my 
movements, alternately regarding, with longing eyes, the victim he had been forced 
to leave, and darting at me no very friendly looks, that seemed to reproach me for 
having deprived him of his expected regale. I confess that the scene before me 
was altogether novel'and surprising. I am but little conversant with natural his- 
