Crow Encyclopedia Information Encyclopedia

Answer 1

Crows were involved in literature, biology, film, and many other fields.

** 1. Literature **
Edgar Allan Poe's 1844 collection of poems included The Raven, which, in addition to love, also dealt with death, disillusionment, and mourning. The purpose of the poem was to sublimate the soul. Melancholic beauty ran through the whole process of the sublimation of the soul. This was also the spiritual core of Poe's poetics and the purpose of the poem "The Crow". This purpose was realized in "Never Again".

** 2. Biology **
1. ** White-tailed Ground Crow **
- It was a bird unique to China. It was known as the "Ground Chicken" in foreign countries. The locals called it the Sand Magpie, which could also be called the "Tarimu Ground Crow" or the "Tarimu Desert Crow." It was distributed in the Taklamakan Desert of the Tarimu Basin. From 1876 to 1877, the specimen was collected by the Russian explorer Przevalski and named "Talimu Jay".
- Its body feathers were sandy brown, close to the color of the environment; its beak was long and slightly curved downward, making it easy to dig and bury food; its nostrils were covered with dense feathers, suitable for desert and dry environments; its wings were short and round, rarely flying long distances; its tarsus was long and strong, good at running in the desert. The local Uighurs called them "Keliyao Beggars", which had the characteristics of shooting and running in large strides.
- They were omnivorous birds. Their food included beetles, locusts, lizards, plant fruits, seeds, reed leaves, Diptera larvae, and other insect larvae. Horse manure, corn, and beetles were also found in their stomachs. They also foraged in temporary parking lots (garbage stations) or newly built human settlements on desert roads. There were more of them near the road than away from the road, because the edge of the road, especially the shelter forest, could provide food and nesting areas.
- They had food storage behavior, which was similar to other crows. They stored food through visual positioning, but the current research on bird food storage was not deep enough. There were still many unsolved mysteries, such as how to resist wind and sand in the desert, find water sources, and resist high temperatures. The limitations of its distribution range and the harsh environment limited its population.
2. ** Big Mouth Crow **
- It was one of the common crows in Beijing. It was 57 centimeters long and was a stout medium-sized crow. Its head and beak were thick from the side, also known as the thick-beaked crow. Its forehead was at a right angle to the base of its beak.
- In winter, they fed on dead animals, dead fish, and prey abandoned by raptors. Their thick beaks made them experts at pecking at animal carcasses, even if the carcasses were frozen hard in winter. They would also flock together to chase away large birds of prey such as big eagles and sea eagles to snatch their food. The sound was a thick wa, wa single syllable sound.
3. ** Small mouth crow **
- Its body size was similar to that of a large-mouthed crow, with a body length of 55 centimeters. Its head was smaller than that of a large-mouthed crow, and its beak was sharp and sharp. It was also known as a fine-mouthed crow. The caw was more trill, and the length of the caw was slightly longer than the large-mouthed crow.
- Although it was not as big as the large-mouthed crow, it was more ferocious. Other than searching for animal carcasses, it also actively attacked animals that it could capture.
4. ** Bald-nosed crow **
- It looked like a crow with a small beak, but its body was slender. It was 47 centimeters long, and when it stood, its wings were about the same length as its tail. There were no nose feathers around the nostrils of the adult bald crows, and the base of the upper beak was grayish white.
- They liked to move around in the open and often stopped on buildings. They liked the farming land and shallow mountain environment around the city. In winter, they were common in farmland, dams, and other environments outside Beijing. They dug up dormant insects from the roots of plants to feed on them, and they would also move in groups with other crows.
5. ** Red-beaked mountain crow **
- It was the smallest pure black crow in the Beijing area. It was 37 centimeters long and black in color. Its beak and feet were red and slender. Its long beak was suitable for searching for insects such as mole cricket, grasshopper, and golden tortoise in grassland and cultivated land.
- It is distributed in the mountainous environment of the northeast to southwest of China. In Beijing, it is distributed in the surrounding mountainous areas and rarely enters the city.

** 3. Movies **
The movie "The Crow" was adapted from James Aubert's 1989 comic book of the same name. It was directed by Alex Proyas, written by David J. Schow and John Shirley, and starred Li Guohao and Rochelle Davis. It was released in the United States on May 11, 1994. The lead actor, Li Guohao, was shot dead by a real bullet from a prop gun on the set in 1993. The film was released in 1996, 2000, and 2005 with three sequels and a related TV series. In 2022, the re-release was filmed in the Netherlands. The film tells the story of the rock musician Ai Wei's fiancée being raped and killed, and he died in revenge. A year later, he used the power of the crow to resurrect and avenge himself. As of February 2024, the global box office gross was 50,694,671 US dollars. In 1995, he was nominated for the 4th Saturn Award for Best Horror Film Award and the 4th MTV Movie Award for Best Film Song.

** 4. Cultural implications **
In ancient China, crows were once considered divine birds, responsible for the rise and fall of the sun. The golden crow became a substitute for the sun, and there were records of "crows feeding back." It was regarded as a filial bird and was regarded as an auspicious symbol before the Tang Dynasty. However, from the Song Dynasty onwards, because crows ate carrion and had a keen sense of smell, they often surrounded animal carcasses. In addition, black symbolized death in the Song Dynasty. People gradually associated crows with death and disaster and regarded them as ominous birds. However, crows were still regarded as a symbol of good luck in Japan.

"The Crow's Testimony" is equally exciting. Everyone is welcome to read it!