No. XI.
It rarely happens that any of the works of nature are wholly productive
of evil; and even the crows, troublesome as they are, contribute in a
small degree to the good of the district they frequent. Thus, though
they destroy eggs and young poultry, plunder the corn-fields, and carry
off whatever may serve for food, they also rid the surface of the earth
of a considerable quantity of carrion, and a vast multitude of insects
and their destructive larvae. The crows are very usefully employed when
they alight upon newly-ploughed fields, and pick up great numbers of
those large and long-lived worms which are so destructive to the roots
of all growing vegetables; and they are scarcely less so when they
follow the seine-haulers along the shores, and pick up the small fishes,
which would otherwise be left to putrefy, and load the air with
unpleasant vapours. Nevertheless, they become far more numerous in some
parts of the country than is at all necessary to the good of the
inhabitants, and whoever would devise a method of lessening their
numbers suddenly, would certainly be doing a service to the community.
About a quarter of a mile above the house I lived in, on Curtis's creek,
the shore was a sand-bank or bluff, twenty or thirty feet high, crowned
with a dense young pine-forest to its very edge. Almost directly
opposite, the shore was flat, and formed a point, extending, in the form
of a broad sand-bar, for a considerable distance into the water; and,
when the tide was low, this flat afforded a fine level space, to which
nothing could approach in either direction without being easily seen. At
a short distance from the water, a young swamp-wood of maple, gum, oaks,
etc. extended back towards some higher ground. As the sun descended, and
threw his last rays in one broad sheet of golden effulgence over the
crystal mirror of the waters, innumerable companies of crows arrived
daily, and settled on this point, for the purpose of drinking, picking
up gravel, and uniting in one body prior to retiring for the night to
their accustomed dormitory. The trees adjacent and all the shore would
be literally blackened by these plumed marauders, while their increasing
outcries, chattering, and screams, were almost deafening. It certainly
seems that they derive great pleasure from their social habits; and I
often amused myself by thinking the uninterrupted clatter which was kept
up, as the different gangs united with the main body, was produced by
the recital of the adventures they had encountered during their last
marauding excursions. As the sun became entirely sunk below the horizon,
the grand flock crossed to the sand-bluff on the opposite side, where
they generally spent a few moments in picking up a farther supply of
gravel, and then, arising in dense and ample column, they sought their
habitual roost in the deep entanglements of the distant pines. This
daily visit to the point, so near to my dwelling, and so accessible by
means of the skiff, led me to hope that I should have considerable
success in destroying them. Full of such anticipations, I loaded two
guns, and proceeded in my boat to the expected place of action, previous
to the arrival of the crows. My view was to have my boat somewhere about
half-way between the two shores, and (as they never manifested much fear
of boats) to take my chance of firing upon the main body as they were
flying over my head to the opposite side of the river. Shortly after I
had gained my station, the companies began to arrive, and everything
went on as usual. But whether they suspected some mischief from seeing a
boat so long stationary in their vicinity, or could see and distinguish
the guns in the boat, I am unable to say: the fact was, however, that
when they set out to fly over, they passed at an elevation which secured
them from my artillery effectually, although, on ordinary occasions,
they were in the habit of flying over me at a height of not more than
twenty or thirty feet. I returned home without having had a shot, but
resolved to try if I could not succeed better the next day. The same
result followed the experiment, and when I fired at one gang, which it
appeared possible to attain, the instant the gun was discharged the
crows made a sort of halt, descended considerably, flying in circles,
and screaming most vociferously, as if in contempt or derision. Had I
been prepared for this, a few of them might have suffered for their
bravado. But my second gun was in the bow of the boat, and before I
could get to it the black gentry had risen to their former security.
While we were sitting at tea that evening, a black came to inform me
that a considerable flock of crows, which had arrived too late to join
the great flock, had pitched in the young pines, not a great way from
the house, and at a short distance from the road-side. We quickly had
the guns in readiness, and I scarcely could restrain my impatience until
it should be late enough and dark enough to give us a chance of success.
Without thinking of anything but the great number of the crows, and
their inability to fly to advantage in the night, my notions of the
numbers we should bring home were extravagant enough, and I only
regretted that we might be obliged to leave some behind. At length, led
by the black boy, we sallied forth, and soon arrived in the vicinity of
this temporary and unusual roost; and now the true character of the
enterprise began to appear. We were to leave the road, and penetrate
several hundred yards among the pines, whose proximity to each other,
and the difficulty of moving between which, on account of the dead
branches, has been heretofore stated. Next, we had to be careful not to
alarm the crows before we were ready to act, and at the same time were
to advance with cocked guns in our hands. The only way of moving
forwards at all, I found to be that of turning my shoulders as much as
possible to the dead branches, and breaking my way as gently as I could.
At last we reached the trees upon which the crows were roosting; but as
the foliage of the young pines was extremely dense, and the birds were
full forty feet above the ground, it was out of the question to
distinguish where the greatest number were situated. Selecting the trees
which appeared by the greater darkness of their summits to be most
heavily laden with our game, my companion and I pulled our triggers at
the same moment. The report was followed by considerable outcries from
the crows, by a heavy shower of pine twigs and leaves upon which the
shot had taken effect, and a deafening roar, caused by the sudden rising
on the wing of the alarmed sleepers. _One_ crow at length fell near me,
which was wounded too badly to fly or retain his perch, and as the flock
had gone entirely off, with this one crow did I return, rather
crest-fallen, from my grand nocturnal expedition. This crow, however,
afforded me instructive employment and amusement, during the next day,
in the dissection of its nerves and organs of sense; and I know not that
I ever derived more pleasure from any anatomical examination, than I did
from the dissection of its internal ear. The extent and convolutions of
its semi-circular canals show how highly the sense of hearing is
perfected in these creatures; and those who wish to be convinced of the
truth of what we have stated in relation to them, may still see this
identical crow skull in the Baltimore Museum, to which I presented it
after finishing the dissection. At least, I saw it there a year or two
since; though I little thought, when employed in examining, or even when
I last saw it, that it would ever be the subject of such a reference,
"in a printed book."
Not easily disheartened by preceding failures, I next resolved to try to
outwit the crows, and for this purpose prepared a long line, to which a
very considerable number of lateral lines were tied, having each a very
small fish-hook at the end. Each of these hooks was baited with a single
grain of corn, so cunningly put on, that it seemed impossible that the
grain could be taken up without the hook being swallowed with it. About
four o'clock, in order to be in full time, I rowed up to the sandy
point, made fast my main line to a bush, and extending it toward the
water, pegged it down at the other end securely in the sand. I next
arranged all my baited lines, and then, covering them all nicely with
sand, left nothing exposed but the bait. This done, I scattered a
quantity of corn all around, to render the baits as little liable to
suspicion as possible. After taking a final view of the arrangement,
which seemed a very hopeful one, I pulled my boat gently homeward, to
wait the event of my solicitude for the capture of the crows. As usual,
they arrived in thousands, blackened the sand beach, chattered,
screamed, and fluttered about in great glee, and finally sailed over the
creek and away to their roost, without having left a solitary
unfortunate to pay for having meddled with my baited hooks. I jumped
into the skiff, and soon paid a visit to my unsuccessful snare. The
corn was all gone; the very hooks were all bare; and it was evident that
some other expedient must be adopted before I could hope to succeed. Had
I caught but one or two _alive_, it was my intention to have employed
them to procure the destruction of others, in a manner I shall hereafter
describe.