310 COMMON CROW. 



in the East, it appears to be most abundant in the Mississippi valley. I found the 

 Crow breeding from Wisconsin to Texas in all well wooded localities. In the prairies 

 of Illinois it is a rare bird during the breeding season. Its true home is the forest or 

 localities where woods and cultivated lands alternate. The deep interior of extensive 

 woods is usually chosen for its nesting haunts. From its headquarters in the forest 

 foraging excursions to all the adjoining cultivated lands are undertaken. Pastures 

 and fields are usually the places where the Crows congregate, and here they also search 

 for food. When not molested the Crows become very tame, breeding fearlessly in the 

 edges of the forest or even in isolated large pines near dwelliUgs. 



Duriiig my five years' residence at Freistatt, Lawrence Co., Mo., a pair nested 

 each year in the dense oak forest behind my house. As early as the beginning of March 

 the pair was seen in its haunts. Very early in the morning they flew to the neighboring 

 fields in quest of food. When they left the forest their loud caw, caw was a very 

 familiar sound. All the Crows in the neighborhood congregated in the pastures among 

 the cattle and in fireshly ploughed fields, where they walked about in search of food. 

 They only utter their peculiar caw, caw while flying or when perched on the trees; 

 when walking on the ground they are perfectly silent. Their food consists of all kinds 

 of insects, seeds, snakes, firogs, mice, and young birds. At this time they commit 

 great havoc in the fields, where they pull up the sprouting com. 



Originally a very tame and unsuspicious bird, it is rtow exceedingly cunning, 

 sagacious, and prudent. Its life being constantly threatened, it is always on the lookout 

 for danger, and it knows well to distinguish between friend and foe. Whenever any- 

 thing is seen that causes alarm, the sentinels of the flock give their signal and the 

 warning is passed from bird to bird. 



The pair above mentioned began nest-building in the second half of March. The 

 bulky structure was always placed in the top of a dense oak, about forty feet above 

 the ground, among the thick foliage where it could not be seen from below. It was 

 built of sticks, corn-stalks, plant-vStems, leaves, and grasses, and was lined with grasses. 

 The eggs, five to six in number, are pale bluish-green, often with a tinge of olive; they 

 vary from almost unmarked specimens to those thickly spotted with dark brown. 

 When I climbed the tree on the 9th of May, the young were almost fully fledged. The 

 parents were very wild and wary^ and furiously flew over my head and around me, 

 uttering their wild cries. When the young are hatched the old birds become exceedingly 

 pernicious. Insects, small snakes, and frogs do not suffice any longer. They now 

 plunder every bird's nest they are able to find ; they even came into my poultry yard to 

 carry off eggs and young chickens. They do this very slyly and quietly. With the 

 exception of Cooper's Hawk, I do not know such a bold robber as the Crow. One day 

 in April one of these birds perched on the fence, only a few steps from my house. An 

 old hen with about a dozen chickens, only a few days old, was in the yard. Suddenly 

 the Crow swooped down, caught a chicken with its bill, and went off, flying away near 

 the ground. In a few weeks the Crows carried off about twenty chickens varying in 

 age from one day to four weeks. Notwithstanding a constant watchfulness chickens 

 and eggs disappeared. Not before a pair of Kingbirds had taken up their abode on 

 the premises, the depredations stopped. As soon as a Crow made its appearance it 



