WESTERN CROW 267 



of the lakes and sloughs where ducks were breeding. On one small 

 island in Crane Lake we counted 61 ducks' nests in a few hours' search; 

 the following year this island was practically deserted by the ducks; 

 we charged the damage largely to a c.oyote and a family of minks, but 

 very likely the crows found here an abundant food supply. 



Frank L. Farley writes to me that crows have so increased in central 

 Alberta as to become a serious menace to waterfowl. He (1932) writes: 



It is significant that as the crows gained in numbers there was a corresponding 

 decrease in the number of ducks, particularly of the marsh-nesting species. In 

 the choice of nesting sites it was noted tliat the crows favored wooded areas 

 adjacent to lakes and marshlands where ducks nested, this no doubt for the 

 purpose of being close to a rich food supply during the nesting season. Mr. 

 Francois Adam, a former prominent farmer of the Edberg district, and on whose 

 farm are extensive marshes, told the writer of the discovery of twenty-two ducks' 

 nests on his place one Stmday in May. The following Simday, being suspicious 

 all was not well with the nesting diKks, he again visited the marsh and was sur- 

 prised to find every nest empty, and many crows busily engaged in every part of 

 the marsh, searching for nests that had been overlooked. He stated that there 

 were a dozen crows' nests in the willows surrounding the lake, and others nearby 

 in scattered clumps on the prairie. It is evident that in such places ducks could 

 not carry on nesting operations successfully. 



Eastern crows, which are usually not too abundant anywhere, may 

 not do enough damage to offset the good that they do, making their 

 economic status at least neutral. But the above samples, of which there 

 are probably plenty more, show what damage they can do when con- 

 centrated in large numbers. 



The western crow, also, has its good traits. S. F, Rathbun writes to 

 me from Seattle: "In the cultivated and more or less open sections 

 lying along the eastern side of the Sound, on occasions early in spring, 

 I have seen numbers of western crows on their northward movement. 

 Wherever the locality had freshly plowed fields, hundreds of crows 

 were on the ground, gleaning every kind of animal food exposed by the 

 plow. The feeding birds never were disturbed by the farmer, who 

 usually regarded them with favor because of the good work the crows 

 were doing. 



"One food item, of which this crow is fond, is the fruit of the red- 

 berried elder, Samhucus callicarpa, a more or less common shrub of the 

 bottomlands of western Washingfton. When this bush hangs heavy with 

 its brilliantly colored berries, one often finds the crows eating them. While 

 doing this they are noisy, for the birds will try to alight on the tops of 

 the fruit-laden bushes, and, as these fail to support them, many birds 

 fall fluttering to the ground amid much excitement and commotion. 

 Once I shot a crow when it was feeding on the berries. I found its 

 gullet packed with the fruit and its stomach also; this organ with the 



