14 
The Coynmon Crow. 
tliey pull much less. Grain thus sown on the surface should be first soaked 
in water, and should be sown on the side from which the crows usually 
approach. A bushel of grain sown in this manner, a peck at a time, and at 
intervals of a few days, at the critical seasou, is a very good investment. 
6. Poison .—Grain that has been pickled for at least twenty-four hours in 
a concentrated solution of common white arsenic (arsenious acid), or in 
any other tasteless strong poison, will be eaten by crows if sown on the field 
where they are pulliug recently-sprouted grain. The intelligence of the 
birds is well illustrated by the fact that after one or two such doses, causing 
the death of a few of their number, they will generally avoid the field for 
some time, and occasionally will forsake the vicinity in a body. 
7. Tarred Grain .—Grain that has been given a coating of gas-tar, or any 
similar substance, is offensive to crows, and after pulling a little of it they 
give it up as a bad job. The method of tarring is as fellows :—Soak the 
seed overnight. Spread it out and stir until the surface of the grains is 
somewhat dry. Mix tar and grease so as to form a thin and soft mixture 
when warm. Add warm slaked lime until the mixture is well thinned and 
perfectly liquid. Stir in the corn, and as soon as it has received a coating, 
remove it and plant it. The flavour of tar will be retained by the grain for 
several weeks, or until it is too large to be easily pulled by the birds. Any 
sort of tar answers the purpose. Long soaking in the tar mixture will kill 
the grain. 
These methods of dealing with crows, combined with shooting some of the 
boldest of them, are quite sufficient to keep them from doing any consider¬ 
able amount of mischief, and leave them at most seasons to assist in keeping 
grasshoppers and other injurious insects in check, and be assured their efforts 
will be more effective than any devices yet known to man. 
Just consider for one moment the helplessness of man before the advance 
of a plague of grasshoppers. Day by day the young hoppers issue from their 
breeding-grounds, and in countless numbers make their way over the country 
on foot or by flight, eating every green thing. To-day the country is 
flourishing,—to-morrow the plague passes by, leaving desolation, and often 
ruin, in its path ! One who has not experienced it cannot imagine the feeling 
of utter gloom wrought by such a visitation. Nothing will avail against it. 
All the spraying experts in the country may fire insecticides by the ton 
into such a mass of insects without any appreciable effect. It would be like 
Mrs. Partington trying to keep back the Atlantic Ocean with a mop. 
The fields of nature are, however, patrolled by a feathered police, whose 
function it is to keep this destructive insect in check, and if man does not 
interfere with these friendly w r atchmen, locust plagues will be much fewer, 
farther between, and less destructive when they do occur, while the ravages 
of ordinary seasons will be kept at a minimum. 
