240 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [P. D. 4. 



no shooting is allowed. Wherever they become unduly numer- 

 ous through such protection the small birds are likely to be- 

 come their victims. In defense of the jay, however, it must 

 be said that he is an efficient caterpillar hunter, and destroys 

 numbers of those pests, the gypsy moth and the brown-tail 

 moth. 



Professor Beal, who has dissected the stomachs of more than 

 two hundred and ninety blue jays, believes this species to be 

 useful. Remains of small birds were found in only two stom- 

 achs, and shells of their eggs in only three. ^ Dr. B. H. Warren 

 failed to find any traces of birds or eggs in twenty-three blue 

 jays' stomachs which he examined, fifteen of which were taken 

 in the nesting season.^ 



The blue jay is not protected by law in Massachusetts. 



Crow {Corvus hrachyrhynchos hrachyrhynchos). 



Ornithologists are divided in opinion regarding the economic 

 value of the crow. Professor W. B. Barrows, who has spent 

 more time investigating the crow's economic status than has 

 any other living man, wrote for the United States Department 

 of Agriculture a report on the crow. In presenting it for 

 publication Dr. C. Hart Merriam, chief of the division, de- 

 clared that the evidence showed the crow to be beneficial. 

 Since that time Dr. Barrows has expressed the opposite opinion. 

 In his work on the birds of Michigan, he states his belief that 

 the crow is more injurious than beneficial to the farmer.^ In 

 my report entitled "The Crow in Massachusetts" the facts 

 for and against the crow were considered and I cannot reca- 

 pitulate them here. 



Whatever may be said about the value of the crow to agri- 

 culture it is not a good bird for the game farm or bird refuge. 

 Its habit of robbing the nests of birds from the size of the 

 sparrow to that of the wild duck or the great blue heron is 

 well known. It is a habit of crows the world over, and some 

 individuals are remarkably destructive. Nevertheless, the local 

 extermination of crows has been followed in more than one in- 



1 Beal, F. E. L.: The Blue Jay and its Food, Yearbook, U. S. Dept. of Agr., 1896, p. 199. 



2 Warren, B. H.: Birds of Pennsylvania, 1890, p. 201. 



» Barrows, Walter B.: Michigan Bird-Life, 1912, p. 427. 



