Corvus corone, LINNÆUS; La Corneille, BUFFON; Die Schwarze
Krähe, BECHSTEIN.
It only differs from the preceding in its size, and in the tail being
rounded instead of wedge-shaped. Its whole length is eighteen inches.
Its plumage is black, with some tints of violet on the upper part of the
body.
PECULIAR QUALITIES.--The carrion crow is one of the commonest birds;
in the groves, which it likes best, it congregates in such numbers
that twenty nests have been built on the same tree[18]; the eggs are
spotted with grey or olive brown on a green ground. The young may be
taken from the nest in the month of March, or even earlier if the
winter be mild they are treated and fed like the former species. The
carrion crow is even more easily tamed, for I have seen old ones,
which have been taught to go and come, and others in their wild
state, which have regularly fed in the yard going in the spring to
breed in the woods, and returning at the beginning of the winter to
pass that season in a domestic state. Insects, worms, mice, fruit,
and grain form its principal food in its wild state.
MODE OF TAKING.--The easiest and most usual method is with paper
cones, at the bottom of which is put a bit of meat, and bird-lime on
the inner edges. It may also be caught with lime twigs placed in the
yard, or before the house, on horse dung and among scattered grain.