THE AMERICAN CROW. 
91 
enemies. Several individuals may frequently be seen pursuing a Hawk or 
an Eagle With remarkable vigour, although I never saw or heard of one 
pouncing on any bird for the purpose of preying on it. They now and then 
tease the Vultures, when those foul birds are alighted on trees, with their 
wings spread out, but they soon desist, for the Vultures pay no attention 
to them. 
The most remarkable feat of the Crow, is the nicety with which it, like 
the Jay, pierces an egg with its bill, in order to carry it off, and eat it with 
security. In this manner I have seen it steal, one after another, all the 
eggs of a wild Turkey’s nest. You will perceive, reader, that I endeavour 
to speak of the Crow with all due impartiality, not wishing by any means to 
conceal its faults, nor withholding my testimony to its merits, which are such 
as I can well assure the farmer, that were it not for its race, thousands of 
cornstalks would every year fall prostrate, in consequence of being cut over 
close to the ground by the destructive grubs which are called “ cut-worms.” 
I never saw a pet Crow in the United States, and therefore cannot say 
with how much accuracy they may imitate the human voice, or, indeed, if 
they possess the power of imitating it at all, which I very much doubt, as in 
their natural state they never evince any talents for mimicry. I cannot say 
if it possess the thieving propensities attributed by authors to the European 
Crow. 
Its gait, while on the ground, is elevated and graceful, its ordinary mode 
of progression being a sedate walk, although it occasionally hops when 
under excitement. It not unfrequently alights on the backs of cattle, to 
pick out the worms lurking in their skin, in the same manner as the Mag- 
pie, Fish-Crow, and Crow-bird. Its note or cry may be imitated by the 
syllables caw, caw, caw, being different from the cry of the European Car- 
rion Crow, and resembling the distant bark of a small dog. 
At Pittsburg in Pennsylvania I saw a pair of Crows perfectly white, in 
the possession of Mr. Lampdin, the owner of the museum there, who assured 
« 
me that five which were found in the nest were of the same colour. 
Although the common American Crow ranges from the Gulf of Mexico 
to the shores of the Columbia river, where it is abundant, as well as on the 
Rocky Mountains, it does not, according to Dr. Richardson, proceed far- 
ther north than the 55th parallel of latitude, nor approach within five or six 
hundred miles of Hudson’s Bay, appearing in the Fur Countries during the 
summer only. I found it abundant in the Texas, where it breeds. The 
eggs measure one inch five-eighths in length, an inch and one-eighth in 
breadth. 
I have placed the pensive oppressed Crow of our country on a beautiful 
