Crow
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Corvidae
Genus:	Corvus Linnaeus, 1758

Crows (English: /kroʊ/) form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-size jackdaws (Eurasian and Daurian) to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents (except South America) and several offshore and oceanic islands (except for a few, which included Hawaii, which had the Hawaiian crow that went extinct in the wild in 2002). In the United States and Canada, the word "crow" is used to refer to the American Crow, Corvus brachyrhynchos.

The crow genus makes up a third of the species in the Corvidae family. Crows appear to have evolved in Asia from the corvid stock, which had evolved in Australia. A group of crows is called a flock or, more poetically, a murder,^[1] But the term “murder of crows” mostly reflects a time when groupings of many animals had colorful and poetic names. For example, other “group” names include: an ostentation of peacocks, a parliament of owls, a knot of frogs, and a skulk of foxes.^[2]

Recent research has found some crow species capable not only of tool use but of tool construction as well.^[3] Crows are now considered to be among the world's most intelligent animals.^[4] The Jackdaw and the European Magpie have been found to have a nidopallium approximately the same relative size as the functionally equivalent neocortex in chimpanzees and humans, and significantly larger than is found in the gibbon.^[5]

Description[link]

in flight

Jungle Crow (Corvus macrorhynchos) scavenging on a dead shark at a beach in Kumamoto, Japan

Corvus species are all black or black with little white or gray plumage. They are stout with strong bills and legs. The sexes are not very different in appearance.

Evolutionary history and systematics[link]

Crows appear to have evolved in central Asia and radiated out into North America, Africa, Europe, and Australia.

The latest evidence^[6] regarding the crow's evolution indicates descent within the Australasian family Corvidae. However, the branch that would produce the modern groups such as jays, magpies and large predominantly black Corvus had left Australasia and were concentrated in Asia by the time the Corvus evolved. Corvus has since re-entered Australia (relatively recently) and produced five species with one recognized sub-species.^{[citation needed]}

The genus was originally described by Linnaeus in his 18th century work Systema Naturae.^[7] The name is derived from the Latin corvus meaning "raven".^[8]

The type species is the Common Raven (Corvus corax); others named in the same work include the Carrion Crow (C. corone), the Hooded Crow (C. cornix), the Rook (C. frugilegus), and the Jackdaw (C. monedula). The genus was originally broader, as the Magpie was designated C. pica before later being moved into a genus of its own. There are now considered to be at least 42 extant species in this genus, and at least 14 extinct species have been described.

There is not a good systematic approach to the genus at present. In general, it is assumed that the species from a geographical area are more closely related to each other than to other lineages, but this is not necessarily correct. For example, while the Carrion/Collared/House Crow complex is certainly closely related to each other, the situation is not at all clear regarding the Australian/Melanesian species. Furthermore, as many species are similar in appearance, determining actual range and characteristics can be very difficult, such as in Australia where the five (possibly six) species are almost identical in appearance.^{[citation needed]}

Closeup of the upper body of a Jackdaw (Corvus monedula)

The fossil record of crows is rather dense in Europe, but the relationships among most prehistoric species are not clear.

A surprisingly high number of species have become extinct after human colonization, especially of island groups such as New Zealand, Hawaii and Greenland.^{[citation needed]}

Species[link]

Behavior[link]

Calls[link]

	Corvus brachyrhynchos call Call of Corvus brachyrhynchos (American Crow)
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Crows make a wide variety of calls or vocalizations. Whether the crows' system of communication constitutes a language is a topic of debate and study. Crows have also been observed to respond to calls of other species; this behavior is, it is presumed, learned because it varies regionally. Crows' vocalizations are complex and poorly understood. Some of the many vocalizations that crows make are a "Koww", usually echoed back and forth between birds, a series of "Kowws" in discrete units, counting out numbers, a long caw followed by a series of short caws (usually made when a bird takes off from a perch), an echo-like "eh-aw" sound, and more. These vocalizations vary by species, and within each species vary regionally. In many species, the pattern and number of the numerical vocalizations have been observed to change in response to events in the surroundings (i.e. arrival or departure of crows). Crows can hear sound frequencies lower than those that humans can hear, which complicates the study of their vocalizations.^{[citation needed]}

Intelligence[link]

As a group, crows show remarkable examples of intelligence. Crows and ravens often score very highly on intelligence tests. Certain species top the avian IQ scale.^[9] Wild hooded crows in Israel have learned to use bread crumbs for bait-fishing.^[10] Crows will engage in a kind of mid-air jousting, or air-"chicken" to establish pecking order. Crows have been found to engage in feats such as sports,^[11] tool use, the ability to hide and store food across seasons, episodic-like memory, and the ability to use individual experience in predicting the behavior of environmental conspecifics.^[12]

One species, the New Caledonian Crow, has also been intensively studied recently because of its ability to manufacture and use its own tools in the day-to-day search for food. These tools include 'knives' cut from stiff leaves and stiff stalks of grass.^[13] Another skill involves dropping tough nuts into a trafficked street and waiting for a car to crush them open.^[14][15] On October 5, 2007, researchers from the University of Oxford, England presented data acquired by mounting tiny video cameras on the tails of New Caledonian Crows. It turned out that they use a larger variety of tools than previously known, plucking, smoothing, and bending twigs and grass stems to procure a variety of foodstuffs.^[16][17] Crows in Queensland, Australia have learned how to eat the toxic cane toad by flipping the cane toad on its back and violently stabbing the throat where the skin is thinner, allowing the crow to access the non-toxic innards; their long beaks ensure that all of the innards can be removed.^[18][19]

Recent research suggests that crows have the ability to recognize one individual human from another by facial features.^[20]

Diet[link]

Crows are omnivorous, and their diet is very diverse. They will eat almost anything, including other birds, fruits, nuts, mollusks, earthworms, seeds, frogs, eggs, nestlings, mice and carrion. The origin of placing scarecrows in grain fields resulted from the crow’s incessant damaging and scavenging, although crows assist farmers by eating insects otherwise attracted to their crops.^[21]

Life span and disease[link]

Crows reach sexual maturity around the age of 3 years for females and 5 years for males. Some crows may live to the age of 20, and the oldest known American crow in the wild was almost 30 years old.^[22]

The American crow is very susceptible to the recently introduced North American strain of West Nile virus.^[23] American crows usually die within one week of acquiring the disease with only very few surviving exposure. Crows are so affected by the disease that their deaths are now serving as an indicator of the West Nile Virus’ activity in an area.^{[citation needed]}

Conservation status[link]

The Hawaiian Crow or ʻalala (Corvus hawaiiensis) is nearly extinct; only a few dozen birds survive in captivity. The Hawaiian Crow is listed as "extinct in the wild" by the US fish and wildlife services.

Indian Crow

Two species of crow have been listed as endangered by the US fish and wildlife services: The Hawaiian Crow and the Mariana Crow.^[24] The American Crow, despite having its population reduced by 45% since 1999 by the West Nile Virus, is considered a Species of Least Concern.

Hunting[link]

In the United States it is legal to hunt crows^{[citation needed]} in all states usually from around August to the end of March and anytime if they are causing a nuisance or health hazard. There is no bag limit when taken during the "crow hunting season." According to the US Code of Federal Regulations, crows may be taken without a permit in certain circumstances. USFWS 50 CFR 21.43 (Depredation order for blackbirds, cowbirds, grackles, crows and magpies) states that a Federal permit is not required to control these birds "when found committing or about to commit depredations upon ornamental or shade trees, agricultural crops, livestock, or wildlife, or when concentrated in such numbers and manner as to constitute a health hazard or other nuisance," provided

• that none of the birds killed or their parts are sold or offered for sale,
• that anyone exercising the privileges granted by this section shall permit any Federal or State game agent free and unrestricted access over the premises where the operations have been or are conducted and will provide them with whatever information required by the officer, and
• that nothing in the section authorizes the killing of such birds contrary to any State laws and that the person needs to possess whatever permit as may be required by the State.

In the UK, the crow is considered a pest when in a large community and under certain conditions can be shot under a number of general licences issued by Natural England.^{[citation needed]}

In human culture[link]

The Common Raven, Australian Raven and Carrion Crow have been blamed for killing weak lambs and are often seen eating freshly dead corpses probably killed by other means. Rooks have been blamed for eating grain in the UK and Brown-necked Raven for raiding date crops in desert countries.^[25]

In Auburn, New York (USA), 25,000 to 50,000 American Crows (C. brachyrhynchos) have taken to roosting in the small city's large trees during winter since around 1993.^[26] In 2003, a controversial, organized crow hunt proved ineffective at reducing their numbers and the problem (concerns for public health and the sheer noise of so many crows) continues.^[27]

At a Technology Entertainment Design conference in March 2008, Joshua Klein presented the potential use of a vending machine for crows. He suggested the crows could be trained to pick up waste and the vending machine would be designed to give a reward in exchange for the trash.^[28]

Crows have also been known to imitate the human voice, just like parrots. Crows that have been trained to "speak" are considered valuable in parts of East Asia, as crows are a sign of luck.^{[citation needed]}

Some people have adopted crows as pets.^{[citation needed]}

Though humans cannot generally tell individual crows apart, crows have been shown to have the ability to visually recognize individual humans, and to transmit information about "bad" humans by squawking.^[29]

Myth and spirituality[link]

The Twa Corbies by Arthur Rackham

In Irish mythology, crows are associated with Morrigan, the goddess of war and death.^[30] The god Bran the Blessed whose names means 'crow' or 'raven' is associated with corvids and death. His severed head is said to be buried under the Tower of London facing toward France, a possible origin for the keeping of ravens in the Tower, which are said to protect the fortunes of Britain. In Cornish folklore crows and particularly magpies are again associated with death and the 'otherworld', and must always be greeted with respect. The origin of 'counting crows' as augury is British; however the British versions rather count magpies - their black and white pied colouring reflecting the realms of both the living and the dead.

In Norse mythology, Huginn and Muninn are a pair of ravens that fly all over the world, Midgard, and bring the god Odin information.

In Australian Aboriginal mythology, Crow is a trickster, culture hero and ancestral being. Legends relating to Crow have been observed in various Aboriginal language groups and cultures across Australia; these commonly include stories relating to Crow's role in the theft of fire, the origin of death and the killing of Eagle's son.

Crow on a branch, Maruyama Ōkyo (1733–1795)

In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Chaldean myth, the character Utnapishtim releases a dove and a raven to find land, however, the dove merely circles and returns. Only then does Utnapishtim send forth the raven, who does not return. Utnapishtim extrapolates from this that the raven has found land, which is why it hasn't returned.^[31]

According to Ovid's Metamorphoses, in classical Greek mythology, when the crow told the god Apollo that his lover Coronis was cheating on him with a mortal, he became very angry, and part of that anger was directed at the crow, whose feathers he turned from white to black.^[32]

In the Story of Bhusunda, a chapter of the Yoga Vasistha, a very old sage in the form of a crow, Bhusunda, recalls a succession of epochs in the earth's history, as described in Hindu cosmology. He survived several destructions, living on a wish-fulfilling tree on Mount Meru.^[33] Crows are also considered ancestors in Hindiusm and during Śrāddha the practice of offering food or pinda to crows is still in vogue.^[34]

Crows are mentioned often in Buddhism, especially Tibetan disciplines. The Dharmapala (protector of the Dharma) Mahakala is represented by a crow in one of his physical/earthly forms. Avalokiteśvara/Chenrezig, who is reincarnated on Earth as the Dalai Lama, is often closely associated with the crow because it is said that when the first Dalai Lama was born, robbers attacked the family home. The parents fled and were unable to get to the infant Lama in time. When they returned the next morning expecting the worst, they found their home untouched, and a pair of crows were caring for the Dalai Lama. It is believed that crows heralded the birth of the First, Seventh, Eighth, Twelfth and Fourteenth Lamas, the latter being the current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso.^{[citation needed]}

In Japanese mythology, a three-legged crow called Yatagarasu (八咫烏^?, "eight-hand-crow")^[35] is depicted.^[36]

In Korean mythology, there is a three-legged crow known as Samjokgo (hangul: 삼족오; hanja: 三足烏). During the period of the Goguryeo Kingdom, the Samjogo was a highly regarded symbol of power, thought superior to both the dragon and the Korean phoenix.^{[citation needed]}

In Chinese mythology, the world originally had ten suns embodied as ten crows, which rose in the sky one at a time. When all ten decided to rise at once, the effect was devastating to crops, so the gods sent their greatest archer Houyi, who shot down nine crows and spared only one. Having a "crow beak" is a symbolic expression that one is being a jinx.^{[citation needed]}

Compendium of Materia Medica states that crows are kind birds that feed their old and weakened parents; this is often cited as a fine example of filial piety.^{[citation needed]}

Indian Crow

Ancient Greek authors tell how a jackdaw, being a social creature, may be caught with a dish of oil that it falls into while looking at its own reflection.^[37] The Roman poet Ovid saw them as a harbinger of rain (Amores 2,6, 34).^[38] In Greek legend, a princess Arne was bribed with gold by King Minos of Crete, and was punished for her avarice by being transformed into an equally avaricious jackdaw, who still seeks shiny things.^[39] In Aesop's Fables, the jackdaw embodies stupidity in one tale, by starving while waiting for figs on a fig tree to ripen, and vanity in another - the daw sought to become king of the birds with borrowed feathers, but was shamed when they fell off.^[38] Pliny notes how the Thessalians, Illyrians and Lemnians cherished jackdaws for destroying grasshoppers' eggs. The Veneti are fabled to have bribed the jackdaws to spare their crops.^[37] Another ancient Greek and Roman adage runs, "The swans will sing when the jackdaws are silent," meaning that educated or wise people will speak after the foolish become quiet.^[40] In reality, corvids are among the most intelligent birds in the world, and this traditional association with ignorance is quite inaccurate.

See also[link]

• Corvus (heraldry)
• Eating crow
• Ischys for the Greek myth of why the crow's feathers are black.
• Scarecrows

References[link]

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Crow.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Corvus

• Frequently Asked Questions About Crows
• Crow: by Bird Houses 101
• crows.net: The Language & Culture of Crows
• In the Company of Crows and Ravens by John M. Marzluff and Tony Angell
• Crow Photographs and Comments
• Video of Crow Making and Using Tools
• Info on Tool use by Crows
• Crow Videos on the Internet Bird Collection
• TED Talk: The Amazing Intelligence of Crows by Joshua Klein
• Corvid Corner - A Site about the Crow Family
• Video: A Crow uses Electrical Wire as Nest-building Material
• A Murder of Crows, 2010 PBS documentary
• 6 Terrifying Ways Crows Are Way Smarter Than You Think at Cracked.com

dk:Krage

The Cure
The Cure performing in Singapore in 2007. Left to right: Porl Thompson, Jason Cooper (back), Robert Smith, Simon Gallup.
Background information
Origin	Crawley, England
Genres	Gothic rock,[1][2] alternative rock, New Wave, post-punk
Years active	1976–present
Labels	Fiction, Suretone, Geffen, Polydor, Elektra, Asylum, Sire
Associated acts	Malice, Easy Cure, The Glove, Siouxsie and the Banshees
Website	www.thecure.com
Members
Robert Smith Simon Gallup Roger O'Donnell Jason Cooper Reeves Gabrels
Past members
Lol Tolhurst Michael Dempsey Matthieu Hartley Andy Anderson Phil Thornalley Boris Williams Porl Thompson Perry Bamonte

The Cure are an English alternative rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member. The Cure first began releasing music in the late 1970s with its debut album Three Imaginary Boys (1979); this, along with several early singles, placed the band as part of the post-punk and New Wave movements that had sprung up in the wake of the punk rock revolution in the United Kingdom. During the early 1980s, the band's increasingly dark and tormented music helped form the gothic rock genre.^[1][2][3]

After the release of Pornography (1982), the band's future was uncertain and Smith was keen to move past the gloomy reputation his band had acquired. With the 1982 single "Let's Go to Bed" Smith began to place a pop sensibility into the band's music (as well as a unique stage look). The Cure's popularity increased as the decade wore on, especially in the United States where the songs "Just Like Heaven", "Lovesong" and "Friday I'm in Love" entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart. By the start of the 1990s, The Cure were one of the most popular alternative rock bands in the world. The band is estimated to have sold 27 million albums as of 2004.^[4] The Cure have released thirteen studio albums, 10 EPs and over thirty singles during the course of their career. Since 2010, they have been working on a fourteenth studio album.^[5]

History[link]

Formation and early years (1973–1979)[link]

The first incarnation of what became The Cure was The Obelisk, a band formed by students at Notre Dame Middle School in Crawley, Sussex. The band made their public debut in a one-off performance in April 1973, and featured Robert Smith (piano), Michael "Mick" Dempsey (guitar), Laurence "Lol" Tolhurst (percussion), Marc Ceccagno (lead guitar) and Alan Hill (bass guitar).^[6] In January 1976 the band took a more substantial form of what would be when Ceccagno formed Malice with Smith and Dempsey along with two other classmates from St. Wilfrid's Catholic Comprehensive School, with Ceccagno on lead, Smith on guitar, and Dempsey switching to bass. Ceccagno soon left, however, to form a jazz-rock fusion band called Amulet. Increasingly influenced by the emergence of punk rock, Malice's remaining members became known as Easy Cure in January 1977.^[7] By this time, Smith and Dempsey had been joined by Lol Tolhurst from The Obelisk on drums, and new lead guitarist Porl Thompson. Both Malice and Easy Cure auditioned several vocalists before Smith finally assumed the role of Easy Cure's frontman in September 1977.^[8]

That year, Easy Cure won a talent competition with German label Hansa Records, and received a recording contract. Although the band recorded tracks for the company, none were ever released.^[9] Following disagreements in March 1978 over the direction the band should take, the contract with Hansa was dissolved. Smith later recalled, "We were very young. They just thought they could turn us into a teen group. They actually wanted us to do cover versions and we always refused."^[9] Thompson was dropped from the band in May, and the remaining trio (Smith/Tolhurst/Dempsey) were soon renamed The Cure by Smith.^[10] Later that month the band recorded their first sessions as a trio at Chestnut Studios in Sussex, which were distributed as a demo tape to a dozen major record labels.^[11] The demo found its way to Polydor Records scout Chris Parry, who signed The Cure to his newly formed Fiction label—distributed by Polydor—in September 1978.^[12] The Cure released their debut single "Killing an Arab" in December 1978 on the Small Wonder label as a stopgap until Fiction finalised distribution arrangements with Polydor. "Killing an Arab" garnered both acclaim and controversy: while the single's provocative title led to accusations of racism, the song is actually based on French existentialist Albert Camus's novel The Stranger.^[13] The band placed a sticker label that denied the racist connotations on the single's 1979 reissue on Fiction. An early NME article on the band wrote that The Cure "are like a breath of fresh suburban air on the capital's smog-ridden pub-and-club circuit" and noted "With a John Peel session and more extensive London gigging on their immediate agenda, it remains to be seen whether or not The Cure can retain their refreshing joie de vivre."^[14]

The Cure released their debut album Three Imaginary Boys in May 1979. Because of the band's inexperience in the studio, Parry and engineer Mike Hedges took control of the recording.^[15] The band, particularly Smith, were unhappy with their debut; in a 1987 interview, he admitted, "a lot of it was very superficial – I didn't even like it at the time. There were criticisms made that it was very lightweight, and I thought they were justified. Even when we'd made it, I wanted to do something that I thought had more substance to it".^[16] The band's second single "Boys Don't Cry" was released in June. The Cure then embarked as the support band for Siouxsie and the Banshees' Join Hands promotional tour of England, Northern Ireland, and Wales between August and October. The tour saw Smith pull double duty each night by performing with The Cure and as the guitarist with The Banshees when John McKay quit the group.^[17] That musical experience had a strong impact on him: "On stage that first night with the Banshees, I was blown away by how powerful I felt playing that kind of music. It was so different to what we were doing with The Cure. Before that, I'd wanted us to be like The Buzzcocks or Elvis Costello, the punk Beatles. Being a Banshee really changed my attitude to what I was doing."^[18]

The Cure's third single "Jumping Someone Else's Train" was released in early October 1979. Soon afterwards, Dempsey was dropped from the band because of his cold reception to material Smith had written for the upcoming album.^[19] Dempsey joined the Associates, while Simon Gallup (bass) and Matthieu Hartley (keyboards) from The Magspies joined The Cure. The Associates toured as support band for The Cure and The Passions on the Future Pastimes Tour of England between November and December—all three bands were on the Fiction Records roster—with the new Cure line-up already performing a number of new songs for the projected second album.^[20] Meanwhile, a spin-off band comprising Smith, Tolhurst, Dempsey, Gallup, Hartley and Thompson, with backing vocals from assorted family and friends, and lead vocals provided by their local postman Frankie Bell released a 7-inch single in December under the assumed name of Cult Hero.^[21]

Early Gothic Phase (1980–1982)[link]

	"One Hundred Years" (1982) noicon Sample of "One Hundred Years" from Pornography.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Due to the band's lack of creative control on the first album, Smith exerted a greater influence on the recording of The Cure's second album Seventeen Seconds, which he co-produced with Mike Hedges.^[22] The album was released in 1980 and reached number 20 on the UK charts. A single from the album, "A Forest", became the band's first UK hit single, reaching number 31 on the singles chart.^[23] The album was a departure from The Cure's sound up to that point, with Hedges describing it as "morose, atmospheric, very different to Three Imaginary Boys."^[24] In its review of Seventeen Seconds the NME said, "For a group as young as The Cure, it seems amazing that they have covered so much territory in such a brief time."^[25] At the same time, Smith was pressed concerning the concept of an alleged "anti-image".^[26] Smith told the press he was fed up with the anti-image association that some considered to be "elaborately disguising their plainness", stating, "We had to get away from that anti-image thing, which we didn't even create in the first place. And it seemed like we were trying to be more obscure. We just didn't like the standard rock thing. The whole thing really got out of hand."^[27] That same year Three Imaginary Boys was repackaged for the American market as Boys Don't Cry, with new artwork and a modified tracklist. The Cure set out on their first world tour to promote both releases. At the end of the tour, Matthieu Hartley left the band. Hartley said, "I realised that the group was heading towards suicidal, sombre music—the sort of thing that didn't interest me at all."^[28]

The band reconvened with Hedges to produce their third album Faith (1981), which furthered the mood of misery present on Seventeen Seconds.^[29] The album peaked at number 14 on the UK charts.^[23] Included with cassette copies of Faith was an instrumental soundtrack for Carnage Visors, an animated film shown in place of an opening act for the band's 1981 Picture Tour.^[30] In late 1981, The Cure released the non-album single "Charlotte Sometimes". By this point, the sombre mood of the music had a profound effect on the attitude of the band. The band would refuse requests for older songs in concert, and sometimes Smith would be so absorbed by the persona he projected onstage he would leave at the end in tears.^[31]