Feathers and Feelers 145 



taloned Indentations at the ends of the toe marks, 

 shows that some wandering buzzard has stopped to 

 eat. Another is that of the great saddleback gull, 

 a bold, well-marked imprint, a perfect intaglio of the 

 sole of the web-footed maker. The crow, too, has left 

 its characteristic mark. But it needs no telltale foot- 

 prints here to indicate that carrion is part of its com- 

 mon diet. Wherever this bird is found to congregate it 

 leaves evidence of its food habits by the ejections from 

 its mouth of long pellets of partially digested food. 

 The seashore, however, is less plentifully dotted with 

 these pellets during the summer than in the winter. 

 Food is more plentiful inland in the warm months, 

 therefore fewer crows are obliged to seek the beaches; 

 moreover, at this time the pellets quickly crumble into 

 pieces. Freezing weather causes them to retain their 

 shape. As these cylindrical objects are sometimes as 

 large around and over half as long as one's finger, they 

 give an interesting clew to the extremely varied bill of 

 fare of the animal. The seeds of sundry plants are 

 common constituents, and often these are of a bitter- 

 sweet, and even poisonous, variety; but In addition to 

 these, there is apt to be present in considerable quan- 

 tities the bones of fishes and of frogs or other small 

 four-footed animals, the hard parts of crustaceans, 

 shells of clams and mussels, periwinkles and numerous 

 small mollusks, and not infrequently one comes across 

 the wing cases of beetles and other portions of insect 

 armor. 



That the crow should become so Integral a part of 

 the shore life as is the gull, is not surprising. The 

 opportunities this region offers to such an indiscrim- 



