2 
GREY CROW. 
or fifty birds, screaming and quarrelling near the spot where I had fired the shot. On returning and again 
searching the ground, we discovered they had succeeded in dragging from their hiding-places seven more 
Ducks. Four were cleanly picked, though the remaining three had only been sufficiently torn to render them 
useless. The following morning we detected two more skeletons, which had previously escaped our notice. A 
dozen fowl at least had fallen to the share of the Crows at this single discharge. In addition to the remains 
we found, they had evidently got possession of three or four which dropped in a swamp, where we had not 
attempted to reach them. 
With good cause game-preservers look upon the whole of the Crow tribe with distrust ; and the present 
species may he considered the worst of a bad lot. On the moors in the north they arc without exception the 
most destructive vermin a keeper lias to contend with. They may be seen in the spring quartering the ground 
like setters ; and the nest of a Grouse or other game-bird, once discovered, is soon robbed of its contents. 
These thieves usually have some elevated spot to which they carry the eggs before sucking them, leaving the 
empty shells lying about in dozens, as if to draw attention to their bad deeds. I have occasionally found eggs 
consumed close by the nests from which they were stolen ; but I believe their most common custom is to 
remove them to one of their favourite feeding-places. A pair of Crows will have several of these stations ; 
and the number of eggs they destroy would appear incredible to any one who had not carefully watched their 
proceedings. At times they will resort to trees to consume their plunder. One spring, while m the west of 
Perthshire, I noticed a pair of Crows very busily engaged in the topmost branches of some trees, in the upper 
part of a birch-wood that covered a sloping lull-side. On examining the spot a day or two later, I discovered, 
under some of the highest trees, the shells of between twenty and thirty eggs. In almost every instance it was 
evident black game had been the sufferers from their depredations. When Grey Crows attack eggs too large 
or heavy for them to carry off conveniently, they break holes in the shells, and extract the contents withou 
removing them. In the nests of the White-tailed Eagle and the Osprey I have seen their work ; and I have 
also known them to destroy and subsequently devour the young of the Golden Eagle after one of the paren 
birds had been shot. From observations I have made in the Highlands, I believe that this species ; is . m t .e 
habit of visiting the nests of some of the larger birds of prey in hopes of carrying ofT some portion of the 
from the larder that had been stored up for the use of the young. 
Though many keepers commence to trap both these birds and Ravens m the autumn, I have co ne to the 
conclusion that the time to effectually destroy all the various members of the Crow family is in early spimg 
as soon as they have laid. During autumn they are simply acting the part of scavengers on the moors ; and i 
is only when the e-gs of the game birds appear that they are enabled to cause the slightest damage To 
expect to clear the ground before severe weather sets in is useless as well as hopeless ; the traps mus shortly 
ceise working on account of frost; and the places of those that have been killed will be fi ed ^ 
U hnfnrc the breedin-season. I have never been able to detect the slightest harm that these birds 
“flirted on Grouse except during the time of nesting, or when the young birds were in the down. As soon as 
U ' ' . . , ’ tl far nort h or from the outer islands have taken their departure, and the residents have 
the migrants from the fa nmth o ^ ^ ^ is kiUed down makes one less in the number 
—"CT and shoot them at their nests I have found by far the most effeetive plan. By 
of the rob e . , , , d theDL securing the old birds with traps when they come 
leaving the ‘ °“ g (* Uoh plan is advocated by some experienced game-preservers), I should be 
If number of eggs must be lost, which might be saved by commenemg operates 
at an earlier date. oonseouentlv easy to trap. On a moor in the west of 
In spring these bin s me ^ ^ whUe ouc poor victim was struggling in the trap. A 
veracity I can thoroughly depend on, showed me a trap where, only a day or 
