414 Townsend, A Winter Crow Roost. [q^ 



The pellets which are ejected from the mouths of the birds after 

 a meal and are composed of the useless and indigestible portions of 

 the meal, are cylindrical in shape, rounded at the ends and measure 

 one to two inches in length and about half an inch or more in 

 diameter. In warm or wet weather they speedily break up and 

 mingle with the soil, but in cold weather they freeze and retain 

 their form. A study of these pellets reveals the nature of the 

 corvine dietary. In times of plenty, as in the early fall when 

 berries are everywhere, the Crows are extravagant and wasteful 

 in their feeding habits. Much nourishment is thrown out in these 

 pellets before it has had time to be digested in the stomach. Like 

 the ancient Romans they empty their stomachs that they may feast 

 the more. Crows take no interest in food conservation; the pellets 

 at these times show much wasted food. Not so in severe winters 

 when famine is close at hand. Then every bit of the waxy coat 

 of myrtle berries is digested off and there are no intact cranberries, 

 as in the bounteous autumn, but only the remnants of skin and 

 seeds. At these times also some ashes are to be found in their 

 pellets, as if the birds were trying to quiet the stomach craving* by 

 bulk, and hunger had made them b<9ld in visiting the refuse piles 

 near houses. 



I collected at various times, from November to February, several 

 hundred of these pellets, amounting in bulk to 662 cubic centimeters 

 of material after the pellets were broken up into their composite 

 parts. This I sent on to the Biological Survey at Washington and 

 received from Mr. Nelson, Chief of the Survey, the following report: 



"The examination of crow roost material sent in by you has 

 been completed by Mr. Kalmbach. It proved to be a most interest- 

 ing lot. of pellets containing many more specifically different items 

 than are to be found in similar material from roosts in this vicinity. 

 I am appending herewith the result of this examination. The 

 numbers connected with the more abundant seeds are approximate, 

 as they were secured by carefully counting the seeds in a portion 

 of the material and then multiplying to get the total. 



Insects. 

 1 Sphseroderus lecontei (Ground beetle) 



Trace of another carabid 



Traces of two other unknown beetles 

 3 Hypera punctata (clover-leaf weevil) 



