192 THE CROW FAMILY. 



Mr. Ernest Officer, " Zara," Wanganella, says : " I am glad to give you my views as regards the 

 value of my friend the crow. First, as a scavenger. During the summer it is impossible to burn 

 carcases here, so I instruct the sheep men to rip up every carcase they find if it is too far gone to skin. 

 When it is thus treated, the crow soon cleans it all up and thus prevents flies breeding. Of course, 

 they get at a lot that are not treated thus, but it helps them to open up every carcase one finds. 

 Second, as an insect destroyer. We suffer severely at times from grubs or caterpillars, which swarm 

 over vast areas and devour all the herbage, leaving the country absolutely bare behind them. The 

 Ibis and the Crow are the only birds I know that have any real effect upon them, the former in the 

 grub state and the latter after pupation. 



" I have seen the crows at work the whole of the summer digging at the roots of the smaller bushes 

 where these grubs generally go into the earth to pupate. Round these bushes one can count hundreds 

 of the empty pupa cases, the crows having dug them up and devoured the contents. On one occasion 

 I rode alorig a line of fence for at least a mile and counted the empty pupa cases scattered round the 

 base of every post, and the number was never under twenty. Of course, they eat grasshoppers, and, 

 more important, still, their eggs in large quantities, which they dig up with their powerful beak. I 

 know perfectly well his bad traits, and have at times prayed in my foolish way for the death of the 

 whole tribe, but, fortunately, the gods were not out to destroy me, and my prayers were not granted. 

 Their worst offence is picking out the eyes of ewes which are cast ; at times this is serious, but if the 

 paddocks are properly looked after, we do not lose many. As to the killing of young lambs, I am sure 

 in most cases the crow has only hastened nature. You know what hasty conclusions people jump to : 

 A crow is eating a lamb, that crow killed my lamb, damn that crow, and let us offer a bonus for his 

 head." 



1 he Australian crow is about the same size as the European raven, with similar shining, glossy, 

 black plumage, black legs and beak, with the eyes either white or hazel. 



It has a wide range all over Australia, along the coastal forest lands, in the rugged mountain ranges, 

 or on the great shimmering grassy plains, or arnong the inland scrub and saltbush ; camp wherever 

 you may, if there is water and a hope of something to eat, you will hear the many variations in the 

 melody of the crows' call-notes. In the early morning, a long-drawn-out cry comes up from the river 

 gums ere he sets out for his breakfast ; the shorter, conversational notes when congregated, feeding 

 upon the plains ; the more mournful, almost weird, long-drawn-out call from the scrub of the solitary 

 crow in the noonday heat, or the general, happy chatter and gurgle when they gather together in 

 large mobs in the early spring — all these can be translated to you by the observant bushman. 



When nesting, the crows construct a substantial nest of small sticks and twigs, with a central 

 cup lined with hair, wool, feathers or other soft materials gathered up in the vicinity of the home. 

 Four 2 dark green blotched eggs are laid, and the resultant young crows, before they get their feathers, 

 cannot be considered very handsome babies. The parent birds usually take some trouble in the selection 

 of a suitable tree and place the nest among the slender branches out of harm's way. 



The crow is not a popular pet like our magpie ; but when kept in captivity becomes very tame 

 and friendly. In the Botanic Gardens the two specimens shut up in the aviary seem to have very 

 restless dispositions, and only talk in their short, croaking call notes. 



- Where food is plentiful, five is an ordinary clutch, and six by no means rare, — Ed. 



