304 Birds. 



Notes on the Crow. By W . H— — . 



The crow belongs to the genus Corvus, of which the raven in Scot- 

 land may be considered the type ; but the varied localities they fre- 

 quent has gradually imposed on each a set of manners and a method 

 of living in some particulars as opposite as if the two birds belonged 

 to distinct classes. The crow never soars into those regions occupied 

 by the raven ; and the raven never descends, unless compelled by the 

 direst hunger, to those champaign levels occupied by man, where the 

 crow is so continually to be seen : hence different views and different 

 scenes impose on each opposite volitions and movements, and each 

 has a mode of life peculiar to itself : even Ihe schemes for their pe- 

 culiar safety are widely different. Still, in specific characters, they 

 very closely agree : they are of the same colour ; they utter a very 

 similar cry ; and flesh, just entering a state of decomposition, is the 

 favorite food of both : both, when driven by hunger, are equally cruel 

 to weaker birds : they build at the same time ; have the same period 

 of incubation ; and hatch in the same month — April. In the quality 

 of their food, and in the way of obtaining it, they somewhat differ ; 

 for the raven generally selects the noblest birds as his prey, while the 

 crow has recourse to the meanest and most ignoble shifts to obtain food, 

 which is frequently the filthiest garbage deposited on the dunghill. 



In the lambing season the crow is the dread of the shepherd, and 

 commits unheard-of cruelties : at this season its nest is overflowing 

 with young, which require an enormous quantity of food ; and many 

 an inoffensive creature is slain to gorge their craving appetites. The 

 symptoms of parturition are as well known to the crows as to the 

 shepherd, and a group may often be seen waiting with anxious ex- 

 pectation ; and when the poor ewe is in a state utterly unable to de- 

 fend herself, the hungry harpies fall on her without mercy, pluck out 

 her eyes, and, when she cries with the pain, drive their strong beaks 

 into her tongue and tear it out, piece by piece ; at every fragment 

 they swallow they give a satisfied gobble, and they never desist from 

 their cruel task till life is extinct. If the mother escapes, the young 

 lamb frequently becomes a victim before it has yet stood erect ; its 

 eyes and tongue are first selected, or its bowels drawn out. 



I have witnessed many other acts of the crows' rapacity, which it is 

 needless to relate ; indeed they are little noticed, being exercised on 

 creatures the loss of which does not diminish the happiness or com 

 fort of man. When hungry I have known them take small fish from 

 a considerable depth in the water, although they have no mechanism 





