CHAP. 14. (12.)—CROWS. BIRDS OF ILL OMEN. AT WHAT SEASONS
THEY ARE NOT INAUSPICIOUS.
Crows, again, have another kind of food. Nuts being too
hard for their beak to break, the crow flies to a great height,
and then lets them fall again and again upon the stones or tiles
beneath, until at last the shell is cracked, after which the bird
is able to open them. This is a bird with a very ill-omened
garrulity, though it has been highly praised by some.[1] It is
observed, that from the rising of the constellation Arcturus
until the arrival of the swallow, it is but rarely to be seen
about the sacred groves and temples of Minerva; in some
places, indeed, not at all, Athens for instance.[2] In addition to
these facts, it is the only one that continues to feed its young
for some time after they have begun to fly. The crow is most
inauspicious at the time of incubation, or, in other words, just
after the summer solstice.