Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 May 1893 — Strange Fatality Among Crows. [ARTICLE]

Strange Fatality Among Crows.

I cannot remember that I have ever seen any notice by naturalists of "a common fact in the natural history of our common American crow. I refer to the freezing of the cornea, followed, of course, by blindness and death from starvation. During the winter just past hundreds of them died in this manner near my house, although feeding plenteously in a neighboring cornfield, where a large amount of corn was, and still is, left out in the shocks. I have observed the same thing during several severe winters in former years, but this winter greater numbers than I ever before knew have perished. The frozen eyes become entirely opaque and finally much swollen. Besides those dead from losing both eyes there are now, all about here, numerous individuals blind of one eye, which are in good condition in all other respects. I have never seen any other bird similarly affected. I have seen several notices of crows starving to death in large numbers in local newspapers, no doubt all blind. Doubtless many thousands have so perished. Ido not think our game birds have suffered materially, nor have I seen a single frozen small bird as I have often in former years. This peculiar weakness of the eye of the crow is, it seems to me, a highly remarkable fact. I take it to be a particular case of survival of the fittest eye. I think perhaps five per cent, of the crows in this immediate vicinity have suffered loss of one or both eyes. From my own observations I think that two or three successive days of zero temperature will always cost some crows their eyes, and especially if there be high wind. I never knew any other creature to have the eye frozen, nor can I find anything in the anatomy of the crow’s eye to account for it. Perhaps some of your readers wiser than I know all about it.— | Forest and Stream.