“The raven is an omnivorous creature: fruit, larvæ, insects, sprouting grain, flesh, whether in a fresh condition or otherwise, all suit it equally well; but its favorite fare is carrion, which it knows how to find a long way off, guided by sight and smell. Wherever there is a dead animal, there the raven makes its appearance and contends for the loathsome quarry with dogs. The habit of gorging itself with this infected food gives it a repulsive odor. For lack of dead prey—the sort most acceptable to its tastes, its great appetite, and its cowardice—the raven hunts such live prey as young hares and young rabbits, and other small and destructive rodents. It pilfers from birds’ nests both eggs and new-born birds, a succulent banquet for its young; and it even has the boldness to carry off little chickens from poultry-yards. Without offering the slightest plea in its favor, I leave the raven to the hatred it has always incurred by reason of its funereal plumage, its forbidding aspect, its sinister croaking, repulsive odor, filthy greed, and savage disposition.” [[160]]
CHAPTER XXI
THE CROW
“In France we have four kinds of crows: the black crow, the mantled daw, the rook or harvest crow, and the jackdaw or little belfry crow.
“The black crow has the same plumage and the same general appearance as the raven, but is one-quarter smaller. During the summer these birds live in pairs in the woods, which they leave only to get something to eat. In the spring their food consists of birds’ eggs, especially the eggs of partridges, which they know how to puncture skilfully so as to carry them to their young on the point of the beak. Like the raven, this bird is fond of decayed flesh and little birds still covered with down. Crows attack small, weak, or wounded game, and venture into poultry-yards to carry off any unwary ducklings or little chickens that may have strayed away from their mothers. Spoiled fish, worms, insects, fruit, seeds, according to season and locality, fill their crop. They especially like nuts, which they know how to break by letting them fall from a sufficient height.
“In winter black crows gather in large flocks, either in an unmixed company or together with rooks and mantled daws. They go wandering about [[161]]in the fields, mingling with the flocks and sometimes even alighting on a sheep’s back to hunt for vermin under the wool. They follow the plowman to feed on the larvæ turned up by his plowshare; and they explore the seeded ground and eat recently sown grain made tender and sweet by germination. Toward evening they fly together to the tall trees of some neighboring wood, where they chatter noisily as the sun sets, and smooth their feathers, and finally go to sleep. These trees are meeting-places where every evening the crows gather from different quarters, sometimes from several miles around. At daybreak they divide into flocks of greater or less size and disperse in all directions to hunt for food in the tilled fields.
“At the end of winter this company is broken up, the crows pair off, and each pair chooses in the neighboring forests a district a quarter of a league in extent, from which every other couple is excluded, this arrangement ensuring sufficient subsistence for each establishment in the bird colony. The nest is built in some tree of medium size, and is made of small twigs and roots interwoven and rudely cemented with loam or horse dung, a mattress of fine rootlets being laid inside. If some bird of prey happens to come too near this nest, its owners assail the intruder with fury and crack its skull with a blow of the beak.”
“Good for you, brave crows!” cried Emile. “Your enemies will think twice before they come and bother you.” [[162]]
“I admire the courage of crows in protecting their young,” Uncle Paul admitted; “but I cannot forgive them their plundering of poultry-yards, their thefts of young birds and eggs, and their upturning of seeded ground. We must then include the black crow among bandits that are to be destroyed.