Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1917-11-22
THE CROW FINDS A DEFENDER
Bird Not as Black as 1t Looks,
Says Scientist.
Its Habits Are Suspicious But Taste
for Insects II Exceedingly Praise-
worthy-Universal Military Sen
vice in Force.


logical Laboratory at Treesbank. Mani
toba, in the Agricultural Gazette Of Can
ada, Color, size. and habits give 1t dis
for which no other bird can
be mistaken. 1t Is distributed over al
the semi-wooded areas OF the country.
being a permanent resident In eastern
Canada and q summer visitor only In the
prairie provinces.
There is something fascinating about
the crow which makes 1t difficult to con-
slider II from the material economic stand
point, which. unfortunately for the sub
ject, is required In these days To begin
with, we can see that the bird possesses
unusual abilities among the feathered
tribe. Note its many calls, all undoubt-
eddy signifying distinct things. See how
IL learns to recognize its friends from
foes.
Man II distrusts, and rightly so, yet
when they are not molested, these same
crows become comparatively tame. There
Is a pair about MY home at the present
time which have nestled close at hand
for the last three years and, showing no
indication of becoming robbers, are per-
mitted to drink at the horse trough or
walk among the poultry. There is also a
wisdom in these birds general habits
which gives them q distinction possessed
by few other birds. They are as mis-
chievous as a jackdaw when kept in cap
tivity and In nature have an inquisitive-
ness which causes them to be always on
the Lookout for what others are doing.
Man is one whom they seem never weary
Of watching. and It is seldom that
man remains Icing in one place without
a crow going to see what he has been
doing when he leaves.
Perhaps one Of the most interesting
traits Of crows is their answer to the call
Of battle; whether this is in substance
universal military service I do not pre-
tend to say, but the fact remains that the
call of a single pair will soon draw to-
gether all the male crows in the neigh
hcrho God, MS well as a large percentage OF
the females, which only return to their
own nests when the danger they were
called upon to combat is past
EXEMPLARY FAMILY LIFE.
In their family life the crows are ex-
emplary in all their proceedings. Both
birds share in building the nest, and dur
ing the actual brooding, when the female
seldom leaves the nest, the male under
takes the double duty of feeding and de-
Tending her. Thus in due course the
young reach maturity and in august
gather into large flocks, In this cond-
ton they remain for the rest CT the sea-
| son. generally roosting together at night
and breaking up in several parties dur
ing the day. when they sometimes fly
long distances in search of food. AT
the approach of winter many individuals
| move southwark. In the prairie prov
! inces all go, while in the east a certain
| number remain, living upon various ma
tive fruits. discarded apples. grain and
| such other food as is available.
There is probably no bird that has been
more generally condemned by the public
than the crow, and have little doubt
that fully 90 people out Of every 100 would
subscribe to such an opinion, fully be-
lieving themselves to be right. This.
think, is largely due to the fact that its
misdeeds are mostly Of a prominent ma
ture and easily observed. while it's ben
ef1ts pass unnoticed Thus crow carry
ing off a young bird Is apt to attract at
tention; there will be the cries of the
! parents or perhaps the nestlings are
known. whereas the same crow might
| pick up thousands of noxious insects
| without any one being any the wiser; in.
deed. its presence would probably lead
to its being accused of some fresh atroc-
ity. And Sc. no matter how nest is
| ravaged-be the offender, cat, dog, coy
| ote skunk. squirrel. or hawk-if there
Is crow in the neighborhood he is thu
| thief without doubt, and another cry goe.
up about his iniquities.
INJURY DONE BY CROWS.
In eastern Canada and throughout tn,
corn belt of the United States the chic
complaint against crows is that they de
stroy much sproutins corn for which
they soon acquire a taste, thus not onl!
treatment of the seed with tar prepare
ton as deterrent. In western Canada
however, we have not as yet suffered t
any appreciate extent from injury o
this nature, due doubles to the compar
atively small amount of corn grown
With reference to the destruction of othe
cereals this Is chiefly confined to grain il
the stock when large hocks of crow
make habit of visiting certain field
daily. The injury. however, is not usual
ly as severe as might be expected. owin
to the fact that the birds really pick u
large proportion of this grain from tn
ground and use the stocks more as al
emnence from which to view the sur
rounding country for possible enemies
That this is so may be judged from crow
similarly perching upon haycocks. An
!. other reason for resting upon both is tina
grasshoppers collect there.
We have already touched upon tn
question of crows in relation to will
bird eggs. Apart from this. however
these birds are also accused Of destroy
In the eggs Of poultry. as we'll as younl
chickens. There is of course some trutl
in this, though there is nothing to war
rant tire belief that this loss is very ex
tensive. Eggs are naturally not take
when the hens are provided with decen
nests. The chief loss of young chicken
is when they are reared in incubator
and SO have no hen to take care OF them
Personal experience of over 80 year
shows that It is only occasionally tn
crows learn to visit Systematically tn
eaten In large numbers. Indeed. to oh
poultry yard for the purpose of attack
| ing poultry. Evidence also points to tn
habit being often acquired through tn
careless practice of throwing out ba
| eggs or dead chickens, instead of buryin
1 them. BY this means the crow acquire
a taste for them and from taking tn
/ dead It soon learns to attack the Twins
/ When a crow takes to this habit a gun
the only remedy. But an occasional rob
L Der of this kind does not necessaril
prove that all others are such. Lastly
we may add to the activities OF the Gro,
the fact that 1t destroys some useful ir
sects and also frogs, toads and snakes
all of which are usually beneficial.
| VALUE OF CROWS.
/ 1t is common knowledge to every farm
err that crows are constantly in attend
ance behind the plough. cultivator. G
/ harrow, not, as has been claimed, to pic
/ up the seeds, but to feed upon the variou
larvae, such as cutworms wireworms. an