272 BULLETIN 191, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



practicing flying, and some fly gracefully for they rise and fall with a 

 floating motion, apparently v^ithout effort. The old birds are easy to 

 distinguish, for they sit quietly in the trees and gravely watch their 

 young at play." 



Mr. Pearse tells me that he has seen young on the wing as early as 

 June 10 and has seen young just out of the nest as late as August 23. 

 He seems to think that two, or possibly three, broods may be raised 

 in a season. 



Food. — The main feeding grounds of these small crows are on the 

 beaches, where they are useful as scavengers, picking up the refuse 

 thrown out by the fishermen, and where they show no fear of the 

 natives, who never molest them, but they are shy of strangers. There 

 they feed also on shellfish, crabs, and any edible refuse thrown up by 

 the waves. In winter they find an ample food supply on the extensive 

 beds of mussels on the tidal flats. In summer they frequent the salmon 

 streams to feed on the dead fish, and are welcome as scavengers about 

 the salmon canneries. Mr. Pearse tells me that late in summer and in 

 fall berries such as wild cherry and saskatoon form a large part of their 

 food; they eat fruit also and are especially fond of pears and apples, 

 though they ruin more than they eat; in the fall of 1935, after an un- 

 usually early frost, they fed on the frost-rotted apples that still hung 

 on the trees. 



Mr. Bailey (1927) writes: "At low tide, the flocks repair to the 

 flats, where they secure an easy living among the mussel beds. It is a 

 common sight to see Crows darting in the air, as they drop mussels 

 upon rocks, to break them. If the wind is blowing, they allow for the 

 curve, and usually do not make many misses in their endeavor to hit 

 a certain boulder. * * * These birds, too, are especially bad about 

 plundering the nests of their neighbors and no species is safe from 

 them, for they are continually hunting, possessing a boldness even 

 greater than the Raven. They rob the sea birds nesting under boulders 

 as well as the Murres upon the cliffs. They are not so conspicuous in 

 their plundering however, as the Ravens, for they eat their eggs where 

 they find them, and so probably put their time in to better advantage." 



The presence of a human being in a sea-bird colony sends all the 

 gulls, cormorants, murres, and pigeon guillemots off their nests, which 

 is the signal for the crows to rush in, grab an egg from an unprotected 

 nest, and fly off with it; the crows return again and again as long as 

 the rightful owners are kept off their nests; this results in great de- 

 struction among the eggs and young of these colonial birds, for which 

 some overzealous bird photographer may be unwillingly responsible. 

 The eggs and young of land birds probably suffer to a less extent. Mr. 



