THE AMOUNT OF FOOD CONSUMED BY BIRDS. 61 



every day. The pellets taken from beneath the tree during 

 that time showed parts of one finch, one shrew, and one hun- 

 dred and ninety-nine mice. Dividing 201, the number slain, 

 by 88, the number of days in which one owl would consume 

 the same amount, we have 2.28, — what he would have eaten 

 in one day. As it is probable that more or less pellets were 

 dropped elsewhere, we may readily believe that the average 

 daily consumption deduced from the whole number of pellets 

 is within the lines of truth. 



An adult crow that had been slightly wounded in the wing- 

 was once brought in and kept alive by us awhile for a food 

 experiment. He was put into a small box, twelve by thirteen 

 by twenty inches, and kept supplied with water, cracked corn, 

 and oats. In addition, from twenty to sixty angle-worms 

 were given him each day for five days. By that time he was 

 fairly tame and ate freely while being watched. We secured 

 a quantity of small fish {Fundulus), which were abundant in 

 the brackish creeks, and offered him some on the fifth day. 

 He ate thirty grammes of them that day in addition to grain 

 and the usual supply of earthworms. On the sixth day his 

 animal food comprised sixty-eight angle-worms, ten shrimps, 

 and eighty-five grammes of fish. By this time his wing Avas 

 nearly healed, he was feeding well and showed a relish for 

 fish, and, as we could procure them in unlimited numbers, 

 we decided that the conditions were right for the final test. 



On the morning of the seventh day every eatable was re- 

 moved from his cage, and a basin of water containing a num- 

 ber of the living fish put in. As fast as the fish were taken 

 out others were supplied. For three days he ate nothing 

 else. During that time he consumed fourteen and a half 

 ounces (avoirdupois), — making his daily consumption 4.83 

 ounces, more than a quarter of his own weight. It would 

 take over four hundred grasshoppers at maturity to weigh as 

 much as did his daily ration of fish. As there is no reason 

 to suppose that uncaged birds would eat less than this cap- 



