33 



grouse was left unmolested, although it was within a hundred yards 

 of a crow's nest. Mr. Bailey speaks of another which was placed 

 immediately beneath a tree that contained a nest in which a pair 

 of crows reared their young, the grouse rearing her young unmo- 

 lested, meanwhile. 



In the preliminary report on the food of crows, published in 1888, 

 and based on the results of dissections of only eighty-six stomachs 

 and information received from upwards of five hundred persons. 

 Dr. Barrows writes as follows in regard to the destruction of the 

 eggs and young of wild birds by the crow : — 



" No observant person will deny that the crow does serious dam- 

 age to the eggs and young of wild birds. The instances of such 

 depredation which have come within the knowledge of most farmers 

 or other persons living in the country are far too numerous to leave 

 a shadow of doubt on this score in any unprejudiced mind. 



" Yet, for every instance of such robbery witnessed by man, 

 thousands must take place without his knowledge. Persecution 

 by crows is doubtless a very large factor among the influences 

 which cause so many birds to crowd about human habitations dur- 

 ing the nesting season ; and yet the relentless crow follows them 

 even to the eaves and window-sills of houses, taking their eggs and 

 young in spite of every precaution. 



" The evidence on this point, contributed by our observers dur- 

 ing the past few years, is replete with accounts of such forays, and 

 the only wonder is that robins, thrushes, blackbirds and many 

 other species continue to rear any young at all."* 



In the later report, published in 1895 and based mainly on the 

 examinations of a much larger number of stomachs. Professor 

 Barrows seems inclined to minimize the harm done by crows in 

 this manner, and Dr. Merriam regards it as trivial. 



Professor Barrows states in the later report that it seems prob- 

 able that not more than one crow in twenty becomes addicted to 

 this sort of stealing. f While this may be true, the avidity with 

 which crows so often attack birds' eggs and young and their eager- 

 ness to be on the scene as soon as possible whenever an opportu- 

 nity for eating eggs is presented would lead one to believe that it 

 is more probable that most crows are addicted to such stealing 

 whenever eggs can be readily found. Numbers of sea birds breed 

 on a small, treeless island in the San Juan Archipelago, Puget 

 Sound. Immediately upon their being disturbed or driven off by 

 white men or by the Indians, crows flock from the islands in the 



* Annual Report United States Department of Agriculture, Report of the Ornithol- 

 ogist and Mammalogist for the year 1888, page 613. 

 t "The Common Crow of the United States," page 47. 



