SOME NOTES ON NEBRASKA BIRDS. 123 



cent of the food of young crows. Leaving the young out of consid- 

 eration, it may be said that in agricultural districts about one-fourth 

 of the food of crows consists of corn. But less than 14 per cent of 

 this corn, and only 3 per cent of the total food of the crow, consists of 

 sprouting corn and corn in the milk; the remaining 8Q per cent of 

 corn, or 97 per cent of the total food, is chiefly waste grain picked up 

 here and there, mainly in winter, and of no economic value. 



"In the case of cultivated fruits the loss is trivial. The same is 

 true of the eggs and young of poultry and wild birds, the total for 

 the year amounting to only 1 per cent of the food. 



"As an offset of his bad habits, the crow is to be credited with the 

 good done in destroying noxious insects and other injurious animals. 

 Insects form 26 per cent of the entire food, and the great majority of 

 these are grasshoppers, May beetles, cut- worms, and other injurious 

 kinds. It is shown by Mr. Schwarz that during the May-beetle season, 

 in May and June, these beetles form the principal insect food of the 

 crow. Only a few stomachs do not contain them, and stomachs are 

 often filled with them. The fact that the May-beetle season coincides 

 with the breeding season of the crow is of special importance, the 

 principal insect food of nestling crows consisting of these beetles. Mr, 

 Schwarz also finds that grasshoppers occur in the stomaciis through- 

 out the year; that during the May-beetle season they occur in the vast 

 majority of stomachs, but usually in moderate numbers ; that with the 

 disappearance of May beetles toward the end of June they increase 

 in number until in August, and throughout the fall they constitute by- 

 far the greater part of the insect food, often occurring in astonishing- 

 numbers, and often forming the only insect food. 



" To the same side of the scale must be added the destruction of 

 mice, rabbits, and other injurious rodents by the crow. 



" In summing up the benefits and losses resulting from the food- 

 habits of this bird, it is clear that the good exceeds the bad and that 

 the crow is a friend rather than an enemy of the farmer." 



491. Nucifraga columbiana (Wils.). — Clark's Nutcracker. 



Sidney, Pine Kidge ( L. Bruner); Ft. Kearney (Dr. Cooper); "Only found 

 in the western part of the state" (Aughey); "To edge of Great Plains" 

 (Goss); North Platte — abundant in town both winter of 1895 and 1896 (E. D. 

 Snyder); "Two seen and one shot, October, 1883 (Dr. Agersborg, Birds of 

 Southeastern Dakota). 



