Birds - The Carrion Crow

( Originally Published 1894 )

The Carrion Crow resembles the raven in appearance, but is about one third smaller in size. It lives in pairs and is said to be a model of conjugal fidelity and parental care. Omnivorous in habit it appropriates all kinds of food: insects, grain, eggs, fruit, nuts, mice, ducklings and chickens, as well as such dead meat as may offer opportunity. Captain Brown quoting from a Scotch newspaper tells of a crow which made an attempt to carry off one of a brood of fourteen chickens, but which on being disturbed, dropped its prey and made its escape, returning some time after with thirteen other crows and carrying off the whole brood.