Crows 25.5 
food. Wild ones that have been caught show a 
similar liking for mice. A friend of mine once 
captured a young crow about two-thirds grown. 
For some reason the crow refused to eat, and would 
not take nourishment except when it was forced 
down his throat. One day a boy caught an old field- 
mouse and six little ones, and gave them to my friend 
for his crow. As soon as the crow saw them, his 
appetite seemed to return, and very quickly he dis- 
posed of the whole family. This would seem to 
indicate that the crow had had previous knowledge 
of the flavor of mice. Now if this habit of feeding 
upon mice is as common among crows as I believe 
it to be, it must certainly be of considerable economic 
value throughout the farming region of the United 
States; for as it is, the different varieties of field- 
mice cause millions of dollars of damage annually 
throughout the region inhabited by the common 
crow. 
It is probable that young rabbits, the cottontail in 
particular, are often killed by crows, and the same 
may be said of the ground squirrels and gophers. 
The crow also catches a few reptiles, fishes, and inverte- 
brates of various kinds, besides annually destroying 
a large number of insects, among the most harmful 
being cutworms, weevils, ground spiders, click beetles, 
