4 
The Common Crow. 
shout- of 20 acres of crows, one may not wonder that ‘ the house’ is fully 
able to bring down the crows. The few crows resume their perches and 
comparative quiet is restored. 
“ Numerous attempts are thus made with a like result until nearly sunrise, 
when detachments of 500 to 1,000 successfully take wing amid the wildest 
enthusiasm. These circle and wheel about in headlong swoops and elegant 
curves above the forest, and each having taken his bearings, moves off in one 
of the many lines of flight that, eastward, westward, to north and south, 
extend from the common centre as the spokes of a wheel. 
“Ere the sun looks out upon the scene a silence almost oppressive broods 
over field and woodland, and to one who so recently beheld this departure, 
a scattered remnant of the mighty host only serves to heighten the feeling 
of contrasted desolation.” 
The following scenes too, from the pen of Dr. John D. Grodman, may be 
paralleled easily at almost any bush poultry-yard in Australia :— 
“ Where food is at any time scarce, or the opportunity for such marauding 
inviting, there is scarcely a young animal about the farmyard safe from the 
attacks of the crow. Young chickens, ducks, goslings, and even little pigs, 
when quite young and feeble, are carried off by them. They are not less 
eager to discover the nests of domestic fowls, and will sit very quietly in sight, 
at a convenient distance, until the hen leaves the nest, and then fly down and 
suck her eggs at leisure. But none of their tricks excited in me a greater 
interest than the observation of their attempts to rob a hen of her chicks. 
The crow, alighting a little distance from the hen, would advance in an 
apparently careless way toward the brood, when the vigilant parent would 
bristle up her feathers and rush at the black rogue to drive him off. After 
several such approaches the hen would become very angry, and would chase 
the crow to a greater distance from the brood. This is the very object the 
■robber has in view, for as long as the parent keeps near her young the crow 
•has very slight chance of success ; but as soon as he can induce her to follow 
diim a ]ittle distance from the brood, he takes advantage of his wings, and 
before she can regain her place has flown over her and seized one of her 
* chickens. When the cock is present, there is less danger from such an 
attack, for chanticleer shows all his vigilance and gallantry in protecting his 
fender offspriug, though it frequently happens that the number of hens with 
broods renders it impossible for him to extend his care to all. When the 
crow tries to carry off a gosling from the mother, it requires more daring 
and skill, and is far less frequently successful than in the former instance. 
If the gander be in company, which he almost uniformly is, the crow has 
his labour in vain. Notwithstanding the advantages of flight and superior 
cunning, the honest vigilance and determined bravery of the former are too 
much for him. His attempts to approach, however cautiously conducted, 
:.are promptly met, and all his tricks rendered unavailing by the fierce move¬ 
ments of the gander, whose powerful blows the crow seems to be well aware 
might effectually disable him. The first time I witnessed such a scene, I 
=was at the side of a creek, and saw on the opposite shore a goose with her 
goslings beset by a crow. Erom the apparent alarm of the mother and 
brood, it seemed to me they must be in great danger, and I called to the owner 
of the place, who happened to be in sight, to inform him of their situation. 
Instead of going to their relief, he shouted back to me to ask if the gander 
was not there too, and as soon as he was answered in the affirmative, he bid 
me be under no uneasiness, as the crow would find its match. Nothing 
could exceed the cool impudence and pertinacity of the crow, who, perfectly 
regardless of my shouting, continued to worry the poor gander for an hour, 
