Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/523

 CKOUSAZ CROW 519 as to irritate the nerve which furnishes fibres to the muscles of the glottis, namely, the re- current laryngeal nerve. CROUSAZ, Jean Pierre de, a Swiss philosopher and mathematician, born in Lausanne in 1663, died in 1748 or 1750. He studied at Geneva, Leyden, and Paris, and was ordained pastor of a church at Lausanne. In 1699 he was ap- pointed professor of Greek and philosophy in his native city ; in 1724, professor of mathema- tics and philosophy in Groningen ; and in 1737, professor of the same in Lausanne. Besides his sermons, he published many works on logic, education, and philosophy, and also on higher geometry. CROW (corvus), a genus of birds belonging to the order paaseres, tribe conirostres, and family corvida. More than 20 species are described, found in most parts of the globe ; some remain stationary within a certain district, while oth- ers migrate from place to place with the chang- es of the seasons ; they generally assemble in flocks in cultivated places, in search of worms, grubs, caterpillars, small animals, the eggs and young of birds, carrion, and various grains and cultivated vegetables; a few species frequent the seashore, to feed upon the dead fish cast up by the waves, or in quest of shell fish, which they break by letting them fall from a considerable height upon the rocks. The old genus corpus includes the raven, the rook, the jackdaw, and other species not usually de- nominated crows, which will be noticed under their proper heads. Four species only will be described here, viz. : the American, the Euro- pean, the hooded, and the fish crow. I. The American crow (C. Americanus, Aud.) was American Crow (Corvus Americanus). first separated from the European species by Audubon, and there can be little doubt that they are distinct. The bill of the adult is 2 in. along the ridge, black, straight, strong, and compressed ; the upper mandible a little convex, the lower mandible straight; the edges of both sharp and inflected. The nostrils are basal, lateral, round, and covered by bristly feathers directed forward. The head is large, and the whole form of the bird compact and graceful ; the legs are strong and of moderate length ; the tarsi are 2 in. long, black, and covered with scales anteriorly; the toes and claws are black, the latter being modenate, arched, compressed, and sharp ; the third toe is the longest, the other three being nearly equal. The plumage is of a general deep black color, with purplish blue reflections, and tinged with purplish brown on the back of the neck ; the under parts are less glossy, and the feath- ers are less compact than those of the back ; the plumage of the head and neck is well blended ; the wings are long, the first primary short, and the fourth the longest ; the primaries are tapering, and the secondaries broad ; the tail is long, rounded, of 12 feathers with their shafts undulated. The length of this crow is 18 in., and the extent of wings 3 ft. 2 in. The iris is brown. The female is slightly less glossy than the male, and the young are of a dull brownish black, with less brilliant reflections. Probably no bird is more generally and unjust- ly persecuted than the crow ; every farmer thinks himself privileged to destroy it, and counts the death of every one a gain to agri- culture. Of course the bird, 'in order to save his race from extermination, must employ all his cunning and ingenuity to avoid his ene- mies ; hence his extreme shyness, and certain flight at the sight of any one armed with a gun, the destructive properties of which he seems well acquainted with ; perched on a high tree, he sounds the alarm at the approach of danger, and all the crows within half a mile fly off at the well known cry of the watchman. Thousands of crows are destroyed every year by guns, traps, and poisoned grain; and the young birds are killed in their nests by every urchin who can climb a tree. Though the crow pulls up a few seeds of the germinating corn, his services to the agriculturist far outweigh his depredations; he daily devours insects, grubs, and worms, which but for him would devastate whole fields of the young corn ; he destroys innumerable mice, moles, and other small quadrupeds, every one of which com-' mits ten tunes the mischief he does ; he will eat snakes, frogs, lizards, and other small rep- tiles, and also fruits, seeds, and vegetables, and, if hard pressed for food, will even descend to carrion. He will steal and devour the eggs of other birds, and will occasionally prey upon a weak or wounded bird ; he delights to worry the owl, the opossum, and the raccoon, and will pursue the thievish hawk, and even the eagle, with all the forces that he can raise in the neighborhood ; he is said to follow the larger carnivora, probably to partake of the bits which they may leave. On the whole, the crow is a persecuted, comparatively harmless, and indeed most serviceable bird. Audubon says to the farmers : " I would tell them that if they persist hi killing crows, the best sea- son for doing so is when their corn begins to ripen." Wherever the crow is abundant the raven is scarce, and vice versa. The crow is