> From: "James Lambert" <>
> Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2006 21:26:51 +1000
> To:
> Cc:
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] "King" crows
>
Greetings James,
You quoted from a book entitled "An Aviary On The Plains" by
one Henry G. Lamond written in 1934 (chap. xiii., page 69):
> ....
>
> But sometimes a man shoots a king crow. This bird isn't recognizable by
> any outward sign, and when he's alive the other crows don't show him any
> marked deference. In fact, it's only a fluke when a man drops a king - he
> can't pick him before he shoots him. We'll imagine we've shot any number
> from one to fifty, and as one particular bird falls he calls as all the
> others seem to have done. But this time there's a difference. Immediately,
> instead of flying away, the attendant crows hovering around raise a wild
> pandemonium.
> One faithful courtier rests on the spot where the dead monarch was
> dropped. He sits there, peering anxiously at the body on the ground, and he
> calls continuously.
> `Paff!' the rifle speaks again, a wisp of blue smoke curling from its
> muzzle.
> That earl of crowdom drops beside his king! The other crows, instead of
> fleeing in terror as they usually do, gather in haste to the massacre. They
> perch in trees, call in anxiety and are unable to stay still a moment in
> their restlessness. There is a black cloud in the air, weaving and threading
> the mazes of a dance of mourning, and as far as we can see black lines of
> calling shadows are hurrying to the wake. The thing is uncanny; instead of
> avoiding the fatal spot these crows seem to have a blind desire to sit on
> the place from where their king was dropped. It's against all recognized
> rules of crow life.
> [TEXT ENDS]
>
You commented:
> Okay, so he goes over the top with the extended metaphor. Obviously crows
> don't hold allegiance to a crow monarch, but do they have something
> analogous to an alpha male, and could this explain the behaviour that Lamond
> is recording? Or has Lamond merely misunderstood what he was observing
> entirely?
>
And you asked:
> So, it is all stuff and nonsense, or is there something to this?
I've been waiting expectantly for some expert on Corvid behaviour to tell
you about mobbing calls, but sadly nothing has appeared. Maybe someone on
b-aus can supply more details re the following.
Corvids, Australian crows and ravens anyway, have mobbing calls. If you
shoot one (very difficult; they are extremely wary birds) and one of the
crows sees its comrade fall, it will give the mobbing call. All the others
join in and any crow that hears it cannot help but come to the spot. They
fly around in circles uttering the call for several minutes and then fly
off. They then won't come near that spot again, for a long time.
It is my understanding, and I hope someone can supply chapter and verse,
that some CSIRO scientists studying ravens were checking gut contents to
ascertain what they were feeding on. They simply played a recording of the
mobbing call, and despite their presence, the poor ravens could not help
themselves and had to mob the spot, whence it was easy to shoot one with a
shotgun. Except ...
One day the recording had absolutely no effect. The ravens totally ignored
it. Realising that something strange was occurring, and with much
difficulty, they stalked and managed to shoot one. Close examination
revealed that in fact they were dealing with two different species. In the
field, where one never got really close, they looked the same, but there
were clear differences when specimens could be examined. Pale versus dark
bases to the feathers; long throat hackles v. no long hackles. Something
like that.
I imagine the CSIRO scientists wrote this up. Can someone supply details?
You may care to try to locate a copy of "Crows, Jays, Ravens and their
Relatives" by Sylvia Bruce Wilmore (David & Charles, London, 1977. ISBN
(Great Britain) 0 7153 7428), for lots of delightful corvid anecdotes. I
give you just one (from p. 148):
"Frances Pitt, a naturalist, owned a pair of ravens named Ben and Joe. They
had their own method of dealing with cats. Ben would parade close to the
cat, who, fascinated by visions of a tasty meal, watched him closely. Joe
would come up behind the cat and and peck its tail. As the cat turned to
see who was attacking it, Joe would strut off, and Ben would seize the cat's
tail. This would continue for some time with the cat spinning round like a
top."
More than once I saw a couple of Brisbane crows teasing a cat next door.
They took it in turns to swoop down and fly over it just out of reach.
Willmore in her book devotes a few pages to Australian corvids, but no
anecdotes to tie in with Lamond's "King Crow" story. That, I suspect,
arises from the mobbing call and mobbing behaviour, but has been
misinterpreted (embroidered?) in the telling and retelling.
Syd
{See separate posting re Seagulls mobbing.)
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