6 
The Common Crow . 
Histeridse, arid Scarabasidse Laparosticti), ants, and more especially by the 
almost constant occurrence of certain species of the Heteropterous family 
Pentatomidae.” 
If, therefore, the naturalists of any country by research prove certain 
things in reference to their own species of common crow, it may be assumed 
with a good degree of certainty that the same things are true of the common 
crow of other countries, and herein lies the value to Australia of some recent 
most elaborate studies of the common American crow undertaken by the 
Department of Agriculture at Washington.* 
These investigations, which consisted chiefly in the examination of the 
contents of about 1,000 crow stomachs, have been in progress for over ten 
years, and have engaged during that time more or less of the attention of 
about a dozen specialists. The very much abbreviated report covers 100 
pages similar to this, and is replete with useful and accurate information, 
and it w^ould be difficult to point out a better recent illustration of the fact 
that such investigations should not be prosecuted hurriedly. The work of 
these men has attained the dignity of a normal growth, and has none of the 
forced ill-considered appearance which often characterises recent official 
productions, and the evidence they bring forward justifies a final conclusion 
respecting the economic status of the American crow, and, incidentally, it 
may be added, of the Australian crow. 
Since the detractors of the crow were first in the field, it is fair that they 
should present their case first, and what does it amount to ? We shall see. 
A traveller struggles wearily across the Australian desert. He is bushed, 
exhausted, and without food and water. Attracted by his feeble movements 
and the odour of his feverish breath, the crows watch him narrowly, follow 
him incessantly, and the poor fellow may well fancy he hears in their cries 
his death knell. He falls, and almost before his death struggle ceases the 
crows are upon him and have picked out his eyes. I am fond of discussing 
with people the qualities of the crow, and I dare not say or venture to 
estimate exactly how many times I have heard this harrowing tale. I have 
certainly heard it so often that, if I did not know better, the prevailing 
impression left on my mind would be that a large number of people had 
been eye-wdtnesses to such a tragedy, and had survived to tell the tale. I 
am reminded of the man who, when asked if he had ever been in a battle, 
replied, “ Yes, often,” and that he had been killed several times. 
Even admitting that such a tragedy has occurred, and there can be no 
doubt that something similar has on very rare occasions happened, is it 
greatly to the discredit of the crow that he picks out the eyes of corpses 
exposed in the open air ? Divest the matter of sentiment, and what remains 
that inculpates the crow more than the ants that crawl into the eyes and 
nostrils, or the carrion-flies, and beetles, and a score of other organisms 
that prey upon the carcase after as well as before burial ? Yet these others 
are not anathematised as is the crow. To make out a case against the crow 
it would be necessary to show that he plucks out the eyes of the living, 
and of this there is little, if any, authentic evidence. 
Though the crow may so fear the human form as to leave it untouched 
until after death, it is not so with that of the sheep. Let a sheep sicken 
and become weak, or get bogged, or otherwise helpless, and he will some¬ 
times be beset by crows anxious to pick out his eyes and feast on his body— 
even before he is dead. This performance is held up as a case of unexampled 
The Common Crow of the United States,” by Walter B. Barrows and E. A. 
Schwartz, Washington, Govt. Printing Office, 1895. 
