Correspondence. 
Cbow 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 
tried 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 whil e- 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 Kiver 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- 
engers, especially while they have young 
in the nest, and during this time they will 
carry off more very young chickens than 
any Hawk in North America. 
0.*0. Vlll. Feb. 1883. p, //. 
ai|l .n:au ginpinqs siia\ qnjs aqx vraioamp 
m saqoni uai pm: qSiq iooj iqSia qnoqe sum 
t[ou[m ‘qnjs ajduui-ijns ‘namo.i ‘[[liras i: in szi.id 
| u punoj Apiuanpioj \ ‘uoauag atp ipiM nop 
-onnf si[ 9Aoqu sa[uu aa.iqi 'jnoqi: ‘jsau upiano 
oqi no Suidumo 3[iqA\ ‘fgsi jo .oiu.ids am ur . 
* • S*v« mm tile desired information. 
I told him that 1 could, but did not feel as 
though 1 ought to, for the simple reason that 
crows were more useful birds than most people 
w«« 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 oId 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 of), 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 effee- j 
tive way, and this [decs 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 the records of the examinations of 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. 
Q,& O. XI II. Sept. 1 888 p.i3 5 
Editor of O . & O . : 
My Dear Sir: — In answer to D. D. Stone’s 
question in the February O. & O. as to why do 
Crows when pulling up corn almost invariably 
take the soft kernel, if they are only after 
after cut-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 
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/ ' ' 
Editor 0 . O. : 
April O. & O. at hand this morning. Allo-v 
me to have another word concerning crows h 
a cornfield, and I will speak of my own ex 
perience. I was born on a farm and am nov 
living on one, and have lived in the country al 
my life with the exception of nine years 
Shortly after I began the study of oruitliologi 
in a proper manner (1874) I became convincec 
that crows were of far more benefit than injury 
to the farmer. I still hold that opinion. Mr, 
Tennant does not state in Ids last article 
whether the crows lie dissected were adults 01 
young ones. I cannot say that the adult crown 
take tlie soft kernel of corn for themselves, 
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 
kills 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 lull, where, undoubtedly, the crows 
had picked out a cut worm. I have a method 
of dealing with crows that 1 think is better 
than strychnine or the “shotgun act.” It is 
tins: If I have time in the spring I mark all 
tlie new crows’ nests in close proximity to the 
field intended for corn. As late as possible, 
hut 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, 
(PtM.X I V. Mcty / to-?. ft . 71 st0ne - 
