WINGED ENEMIES OF WILD FOWL 81 



found chiefly in the Western and North Western parts 

 of the United States. It takes many rabbits and upland 

 birds, especially sage grouse and sharp-tailed grouse, but 

 it does not seem to take so many ducks and other wild 

 fowl as the bald eagle, probably because the ducks are 

 not so abundant in the mountainous regions it prefers. 

 Mr. R. MacFarlane, however, mentions ducks as a 

 part of the regular food of this eagle in the region 

 of the Anderson River, Mackenzie, and Mr. L. M. 

 Turner makes a similar statement regarding the coast of 

 Alaska.* 



The Crow. I am strongly inclined to regard the crow 

 as one of the worst winged enemies of the wild ducks in 

 places where crows are abundant. This wary bird has 

 become superabundant in many places since the game 

 has decreased while the crow has increased in numbers. 

 Crows destroy both the eggs and the young birds. All 

 of the gamekeepers regard them as very destructive. 

 The crow has been observed in the New York Zoological 

 Park taking young ducks, and on many farms he has 

 been seen to take the eggs and young of poultry. 



Mr. Price, at the Fells reservation, in Massachusetts, 

 raises both wild and domesticated ducks. He says the 

 crows took five out of seven young ducks in one day. In 

 June about one hundred mallards were turned out 

 on a small pond. Ducks lay their eggs very early in the 

 morning, and every morning crows were seen carrying 

 off eggs. Mr. Price says they took about fifty each week, 

 carrying off altogether from eight hundred to one thou- 

 sand eggs during the season, taking about all the eggs 

 laid by the ducks. Crows are attracted by game when it 



Bulletin 27, Biological Surrey, U. S. Dept. Agr. 



