BOUNTIES. 93 



keepers bought them of the boys and shooters who had no taxes to 

 pay. at a rather lower rate, or exchanged powder and shot for them. 

 This measure caused a great havoc to be kept up among them, and 

 in a few years so much diminished the grievance that the price was 

 withdrawn. "■ 



At intervals, however, bounty laws have been revived in Maryland, 

 Virginia, Pennsylvania, and in fact in nearly all the Eastern States, 

 and when the State did not pay a bounty, in very many cases counties 

 or towns did so, with the result that in one part of the country or 

 another the Crows were always subject to persecution. Even at the 

 present time bounties are paid in many parts of the United States, 

 sometimes for Crows alone, more often for various birds and animals 

 which, with or without reason, are believed to be pests. 



In December, 1890, Mr. Eobert C. Alexander, of Stark, Wayne 

 County, Mich., wrote as follows to the Department : " For the last four 

 years (1887-1890) this town has given a bounty of 10 cents a head on 

 woodchucks (Arctomys), Crows, and" all species of hawks, and 5 cents 

 a head on the common gopher (Spermopldlus 13-lineatus) and the com- 

 mon mole (Scalops aquations). This has taken about *100 out of the 

 treasury each year, and as far as I can see it has not decreased the 

 numbers in any case. Last year the Crow was more abundant than it 

 has been before in a great many years." 



Dr. W. C. Brownell, of Plymouth, Sheboygan County, Mich., wrote 

 in 1891: " Several townships in this immediate vicinity offer a bounty 

 on heads and eggs, with the result of large numbers of Crows being 

 killed and many nests broken up." 



In 1889 the legislature of Maine enacted as follows: 



Section 1. A bounty of ten cents for every Crow killed in any town in this State 

 between the thirty-first day of March and the first day of November of each year, 

 shall be paid by the treasurer thereof, to the person depositing (in lots of ten or 

 more) the heads of the same with such treasurer. The treasurer shall immediately 

 destroy such heads. 



Sec. 2. Towns shall be reimbursed from the State treasury, etc. 



One thousand dollars was appropriated by the legislature for the 

 payment of bounties in 1889 and a similar amount for 1890. At the 

 close of 1889 it was found that $2,200 would be required to pay for 

 Crows already killed, and it may well be doubted whether the number 

 of Crows in the State had been perceptibly diminished. 



The number of Crows gathering nightly at an average winter roost 

 in Maryland or Virginia certainly exceeds 100,000, and many roosts are 

 known to accommodate double that number. The Maine law wisely 

 limited the bounty to Crows taken during spring, summer, and autumn, 

 and thus probably was doubly effective: yet it is doubtful whether 

 any State east of the Mississippi is able to pay 10 cents each for all 

 the Crows which nest within its boundaries. As a matter of fact, it 

 is certain that not more than half the Crows could be killed by the 



