CROWS 333 



Soaking these in tarred water previous to planting will prevent 

 much of this sort of depredation. 



During the summer the Crows still seek insects of various 

 sorts, grubs, grasshoppers, moths, cutworms, caterpillars, pota- 

 to bugs and their larvae, mice and other related small mammals, 

 the wild fruits such as strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, 

 blueberries, "bird" cherries, choke cherries, black cherries, 

 dogwood berries, arrowwood berries, poison ivy fruit and a 

 still greater variety of wild fruits and berries. Various grain 

 such as corn, wheat, oats, rye and barley are also eaten, but 

 corn is their favorite grain and much of the corn so taken is 

 waste, excepting that taken in the spring when they pull 

 the sprouting seed. 



They also prey on eggs and young of other birds occasionally 

 but not freqently inland, on the coast however I have observed 

 Crows leaving the outer islands and on landing found abundant 

 evidence in the shape of eggs with fresh "bill holes" in them 

 to prove that they had been eating eggs of Terns, Gulls and 

 Guillemots. It was a mystery how they got the Guillemot 

 eggs as these are concealed under the rocks so as to 

 puzzle the collector to find and get at them. On the whole the 

 Crow may be considered as a very beneficial bird. The accu- 

 mulated evidence shows that they destroy large numbers of 

 mice and other injurious vermin and insects, and the slight 

 damage done by the Crows to growing crops does not nearly 

 approach the damage that would have been likewise done by 

 the vermin they have destroyed. 



To illustrate their shrewdness I have seen them take sea- 

 urchins and mollusks from the tide flats and rocks along the 

 coast and carrying them to a considerable height drop them 

 and descend to eat the inmate which had become accessible 

 after the shell was so broken. They will eat almost anything 

 edible, including carrion, in times of hunger. 



In fall and winter they assemble in large flocks and roost 

 at places which have been resorted to at similar times for many 



