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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



and today is simply living true to its in- 

 herited instincts. 



In the heronries along the out-of-the- 

 way watercourses of Louisiana, under 

 conditions wholly unaltered by the hand 

 of man, I have seen these black marau- 

 ders taking their toll ; and again among 

 the herons of the lower Santee, in South 

 Carolina. 



The anhingas and egrets of central 

 Florida, the gulls and other waterfowl 

 at Stump Lake, N. Dak., the sharp-tailed 

 grouse of Manitoba, and the ducks of 

 Saskatchewan are in these years fighting 

 the same battles their ancestors fought 

 centuries before. Are they fighting a los- 

 ing battle, and does all of this mean that 

 in the end the crow, not man, shall decree 

 which of our birds posterity shall enjoy 

 and which are to go? 



Stomach examination in this case lends 

 valuable but not complete information. 

 The albumen of an egg or the soft body 

 of a nestling bird soon disappears under 

 the powerful digestive juices, and, even 

 with the most careful work, items of this 

 kind may be overlooked. The laboratory, 

 however, has indicted the egg-stealing 

 and bird-killing crow, but at the same 

 time it conclusively refutes the exagger- 

 ated statements of extremists. 



THE CROW IS NOT OFTEN A CANNIBAL 



Wild birds and their eggs constitute 

 only about one-third of i per cent of the 

 annual food of the 1.340 adult crows ex- 

 amined. This resort to cannibalism oc- 

 curred chiefly in the months of May. 

 June, and July, the period in which the 

 crow has to provide a copious animal diet 

 for its young. 



Under normal conditions about i l / 2 per 

 cent of the food given to nestling crows 

 also is secured at the expense of other 

 birds. About 1 in every 28 adult crows 

 and 1 in every 1 1 of the nestlings ex- 

 amined had partaken of the forbidden 

 food. 



Such incriminating evidence cannot be 

 turned aside lightly. But there are miti- 

 gating circumstances that must be taken 

 in consideration. In the first place, most 

 of this destruction takes place during the 

 nesting season of the crow, sufficiently 

 early in the year to permit those species 

 that have lost a first setting of eggs to 



lay and incubate a second clutch at a time 

 when they will be little molested by the 

 crow. 



A goodly portion of the adult birds 

 which the crow secures no doubt are 

 cripples or weaklings, their elimination 

 increasing the virility of the species 

 preyed upon. And then, too, it must be 

 borne in mind that crows habitually pass 

 to each of their nestlings a portion of so 

 dainty a meal as another bird's egg or 

 young, with the result that, when stom- 

 achs are examined, a single act of vandal- 

 ism may be recorded in each of four or 

 five stomachs. 



Distinction also should be made be- 

 tween the common crow and the fish- 

 crow, which is notoriously a worse pil- 

 ferer of nests. 



In summing up the evidence that has 

 come to hand, I am forced to the con- 

 clusion that in the vicinity of game farms 

 and preserves, where it is the desire to 

 foster certain species in an abundance 

 greater than that decreed by Nature, the 

 crow must be held in check. 



Under natural conditions, game and 

 insectivorous birds will hold their own, 

 regardless of the crow, if furnished the 

 necessary cover and not shot too close. 

 Consequently, I doubt the wisdom of ex- 

 tensive crow campaigns, conducted with 

 the sole object of improving game con- 

 ditions over a large area. 



Poultry furnishes about as much food 

 for the crow as does wild-bird life ; but 

 most of this loss can be prevented by 

 more careful housing. The shift-for- 

 itself method of poultry-raising will al-. 

 ways pay its toll to crows, hawks, and 

 owls. 



Chicken-stealing appears to be largely 

 the trait of individual birds, which, by 

 reason of the proximity of their nests or 

 the accessibility of the poultry yard, have 

 been afforded an easy means of getting 

 a plentiful supply of nourishing food. 

 The killing of one or two engaged in the 

 practice will usually put a stop to such 

 raids. 



As a ravager of certain other forms 

 of animal life, the crow exerts influences, 

 some good and some bad. In feeding on 

 mollusks and fish, nothing of great eco- 

 nomic significance is involved. The frogs, 

 salamanders, and toads it consumes are 



