263 



of the total food, is chiefly waste grain picked up here and there, 

 mainly in winter, and is of no economic value. 



DO TRIVIAL DAMAGE TO FRUIT. 



"In the case of cultvated fruits the loss Is trivial. The same 

 is true of the eggs and young of poultry and wild birds, the 

 total for the year amounting to only one per cent, of the food. 



"As an offset to his bad habits, the Crow is to be credited 

 with the good done in destroying noxious insects and other 

 injurious animals. Insects form 26 per cent of the entire food, 

 and the great majority of these are grasshoppers. May beetles, 

 cut worms and other injurious kinds. It is shown that during 

 the May beetle season, in May and June, these beetles form 

 the principal insect food of the Crow. Only a few stomachs 

 do not contain them, and stomachs are often filled with 

 them. The fact that the May beetle season coincides with the 

 breeding season of the Crow is of special importance, the 

 principal insect food of nestling Crows consisting of these 

 beetles. : -f^] 



DEVOUR LEGIONS OF BEETLES AND GRASSHOPPERS. 



Mr. Schwarz also finds that grasshoppers occur in tlite' 

 stomachs throughout the year; during May beetle season they 

 occur in the vast majority of stomachs, but usually in mod- 

 erate numbers; that with the disappearance of May beetles 

 towards the end of June they increase in numbers until in 

 August and throughout the fall they constitute by far the 

 greater part of insect food, often occurring in astonishing 

 numbers, often forming the only insect food. 



"To the same side of the scale must be added the destruc- 

 tion of mice, rabbits, and other injurious rodents by the Crow. 



"In the summing up of the benefits and losses resulting from 

 the habits of this bird, it is clear that the good exceeds the 

 bad and that the Crow is a friend rather than an enemy of 

 the farmer." 



THE CROW DESTROYS ARMY WORMS. 



During the mouths of Jul^' and August, 1890, when 

 the writer was engaged in studying the Army Worm, 

 {Leucania vnipunda), which preyed upon cereals, 

 (particularly oats) grass, etc., in this State to the ex- 



