ANDERSON — THE BIRDS OF IOWA. 297 



worms; also mice, grasslioppers, crickets, grubs, etc.; he destroys 

 many nests of small birds and robs the poultry yard of eggs and 

 small chickens very frequentl3\ He also acts as a scavenger, 

 feeding commonly upon carrion. In the wintertime the vicinity 

 of slaughter-houses is a favorite rendezvous for Crows. The 

 Crows seem to have a natural antipathy toward the Hawks and 

 Owls and large numbers will congregate to mob an unfortunate 

 member of this family. Whether injurious or beneficial, the Crow 

 seems well able to take care of himself, adjusting himself to ever}' 

 new condition, for in spite of continuous persecution for genera- 

 tions there seems to be no diminution in the numbers of this spe- 

 cies in nearly all parts of the country and, indeed, an increase in 

 most parts of Iowa since the settlement of the state. 



Contrary to the general rule in the East, the Crows in Iowa 

 conmionly build their nests in rather small trees, second-growth 

 oaks or poplars in small groves, usually not over thirty-five feet 

 from the ground, sometimes not over fifteen feet. The usual 

 number of eggs is five, but four, six or seven are sometimes 

 found, from the latter part of March until the first of Ma}'. Oc- 

 casionally a white or albino Crow is observed. W. A. Bryan 

 reports having seen one with a white head near New Sharon, and 

 mounted one taken in Story county in 1882, which was a dirty 

 white color all over (Iowa Orn., i, 3, I895, PP- 58-62). Although 

 a wary bird, the Crow becomes remarkably tame when taken 

 from the nest while young. 



Genus Nucifraga Linnaeus. 



211. (491). iVifci/ra ga cohandiana {Wi\son). Clarke Nutcracker. 



The Clarke Nutcracker is essentially a bird of the coniferous 

 forests of the West, occasionally straggling eastward to Dakota, 

 Nebraska and Kan.sas. "Dr. x-Xgersborg took a specimen at Ver- 

 million, S. D., in October, 1883 (Cooke, Bird Migr. in Miss. Val.. 

 p. 159), and a specimen was shot in the western outskirts of Mil- 

 waukee in the fall of 1875 (Kumlien and Hollister, Birds of Wis., 

 p. 86). In Nebraska, "in fall and winter, spreading south and 

 east to Sidney, Kearney, North Platte, and even to Omaha" (Rev. 

 Birds Neb., p. 72). 



The only Iowa record is a specimen in the museum of the I'ni- 

 versity of Iowa, No. 10753, .shot by Cal Brown four miles south 



