THE CROW IN ITS RELATION TO AGRICULTURE. 



E. R. KALMBACH, Assistant Biologist. 



Distribution and abundance 



Life history 



Economic status 



Animal food 



Insects 



Spiders, fishes, reptiles, etc_ 

 Wild birds and their eggs_ 



Poultry and their eggs 



Mammals 



Carrion and the distribu- 

 tion of live-stock dis- 

 eases 



Vegetable food 



Corn 



Other grains 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



4 



5 



7 



7 



7 



10 



10 



10 



11 



Economic status Continued. 

 Vegetable food Continued. 



Other crops 



Wild fruits 



Distribution of seeds 



Summary of food habits 



Protection of crops and poultry. 



Frightening devices 



Deterrents 



Scattering grain 



Poisoning 



Trapping 



Shooting 



Destroying nests 



Summary 



Page. 



12 

 13 

 13 

 13 

 15 

 15 

 16 

 17 

 17 

 19 

 19 

 19 

 19 



JT IS DOUBTFUL whether any other bird is of 

 as great economic importance to the farmer of the 

 eastern United States as the crow. In food 

 habits it is practically omnivorous ; it takes any- 

 thing from the choicest poultry and the tenderest 

 shoots of sprouting grain to carrion and weed 

 seeds, many of which offer at best but a morsel 

 of nourishment. The fact that no less than 656 

 different items have been identified in its food 

 gives some idea of the bird's resourcefulness and 

 its potentiality for good or harm. Some of the 

 complaints against the crow are well-nigh tradi- 

 tional, while a few of its beneficial habits have long been matters 

 of common knowledge. Irreconcilable differences of opinion regard- 

 ing the crow's worth have often been the rule among residents of a 

 community, and it has been only recently that sufficient information 

 has been assembled from most parts of the bird's range to allow a 

 thorough study of its habits. 1 



1 For a comprehensive treatise on the economic status of the crow based on the exami- 

 nation of the food contained in 2,118 stomachs, see Bulletin No. 621, U. S. Dept. Agr., 

 "The Crow and Its Relation to Man," by E. R. Kalmbach, 92 pp., 2 pis., 3 figs., Feb. 

 16,1918. ?Hk r ' "* .'/-UVS-." 



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