Crow and Snake.— While riding down 
through Occum, Conn., on May 26th last, 
we noticed a crow on a level garden bed 
killing a snake, which was not less than 
eighteen inches long. The snake seemed 
fully conscious of what was going on and 
tiied to get away, but showed fight every 
time it was seized. It was interesting to 
see the crow bite him, lift him up and 
throw him to the ground, keeping one eye 
on us the while. This went on for some 
time, the snake getting weaker every bout. 
The crow evidently not liking the nearness 
of myself and carriage, seized the snake 
within a few inches of its head and flew 
with it into the large trees beyond the 
Wequonock River where we could not 
watch its further operations. The snake 
hung down its full length while being car- 
ried over the river. Crows are great scav- 
V nmm ‘ while thev have young 
i: A Timely Word in Behalf of the 
c Crow, Corvus americanus. 
a 
BY EDWARD TENNANT. 
Early one morning in May last a friend of 
mine, a well-to-do farmer, called on me and 
said he wished to know some way to poison 
Crows. He said that they had bothered him 
considerably for the past three years and this 
season he wanted to be rid of them, and asked 
me if X could give him the desired information 
I told him that X could, but did not feel as 
though X ought to, for the simple reason that 
crows were more useful birds than most people 
were aware of, and asked him in regard to the 
nature and extent of the damage done. He 
said that three years ago this spring he ploughed 
up an old piece of land about three acres in ex- 
tent and planted it with corn, and as soon as the 
seed was up the Crows began to congregate and 
some times there would be a hundred or more 
on the field scratching and pulling up the corn, ; 
and no amount of scare-crows would keep 
them off, so they bothered him all summer. 
The next year they were not so plenty, as a 
near neighbor had poisoned a good many, but 
he said he had to plant a good deal of the corn 
over, though the damage done was trifling he 
didn't want the trouble of planting it over so 
many times, and for this reason he wanted to 
be rid of them. 
I explained to him that it was not the corn 
the crows were after but the various small in- 
sects, larvae and coleoptera that invest the corn 
and potato fields in this section, and in order to 
get at them the Crows had found that pull- 
ing up the corn was the easiest and most effec- 
tive way, and this piece of land in particular 
being old was full of the kind above mentioned, 
and of course the Crows found it out naturally 
and had worked on this till they had cleaned 
them all out as he said they had not bothered 
him any thus far, and after showing him some 
of tlie records of the examinations ot the stom- 
achs of these birds, he said that lie was con- 
vinced that after all the Crows were not so 
destructive as he thought and he went home a 
wiser if not a better man. 
0,& O. XIII. Sept. 1 888 P ■ 13 5 -/ 3 (. 
Correspondence. 
Editor of O. & O. : 
My Dear Sir: — In answer to D. D. Stone’s 
question in the February O. & C). as to why do 
Crows when pulling up corn almost invariably 
take the soft kernel, if they are only after 
after out-worms, etc., allow me to say that my 
article in September O. & O., 1888, was written 
from my own personal observations and ex- 
perience. Though comparatively a young 
man, I am quite familiar with the food habits 
of our New England birds, and especially those 
of Crows, Hawks and Owls; and of the species 
under consideration I have collected quite a 
few, and always made it a rule to examine and 
note carefully the contents of their stomachs, 
and of nineteen specimens dissected during 
the spring of ’87 and ’88 I have not, in a single 
instance, found any traces of hard or soft 
kernels of corn, but on the contrary have al- 
most always found the stomachs full of large 
white grubs, cut-worms, and other noxious 
insects which are injurious to the healthy 
growth of the corn plant. I have, on several 
occasions in my tramps afield while passing 
through a planted corn field, noticed the young 
plants laying around, where the crows had 
been at work, with the soft kernel still attached 
to the roots, yet I have observed Crows feeding 
in the dead of winter on corn which had been 
carelessly left standing in the field; but as to 
the above results I was led to believe that 
insects constitute the principal food of Corvus 
during the spring and summer months. If I 
am in error, of course I am perfectly willing 
to be corrected, and do not wish to be under- 
stood as taking any decided stand in the mat- 
ter, and would be pleased to hear from others 
on the subject, but will say that, despite the 
desperate efforts of man to destroy these birds 
by the use of strychnine and gun powder, they 
seem to hold their own without any serious 
effect to the various crops; and I am yet to be 
convinced that Crows are more injurious than 
beneficial to agriculture, and remain 
Respectfully, 
Edward Tennant. / . 
Attleboro Falls, Mass., March 17, 1889. 
/ttf. VvtX IV. /t. (, y . 
uchxvo und outt ivcnici u± cum lor mem selves, 
but I do know that they take it to their nests 
as food for their young. We have had more 
or less corn pulled every year and it is safe to 
say that the soft kernels are taken from nine 
hills out of every ten that are pulled. I have 
often seen crows working on a cornfield, and 
on going over the field have found scarcely any 
corn pulled, but have found the soil disturbed 
about the hill, where, undoubtedly, the crows 
had picked out a cut worm. I have a method 
of dealing with crows that I think is better 
than strychnine or the “shotgun act.” It is 
this: If I have time in the spring I mark all 
the new crows’ nests in close proximity to the 
field intended for corn. As late as possible, 
but before the eggs are hatched, I overturn 
the nests. By so doing the annual crop of 
crows is not shortened but given a setback. 
Before the second clutch of eggs is hatched the 
corn is large enough so that they will not pull 
it up but will take all the cut worms they can 
find, just the same. Most respectfully, 
v. May m?. u . Tx 8t0ne - 
