36 



pillars these seem rather remarkable statements. To such observ- 

 ers the almost complete absence of such food from the stomachs 

 examined would merely justify the conclusion that most of the 

 crows were shot while, or soon after, feeding in fields, gardens, 

 pastures, prairies or other open land. It seems most astonishing 

 that the examination of so many stomachs should yield the remains 

 of so few arboreal insects. While all who have closely observed 

 crows must agree that much of their feeding is done on or near 

 the ground, yet it must be admitted that in the more wooded dis- 

 tricts of Massachusetts, at least, in the late spring and during a 

 part of the summer the crows feed much in and among trees in 

 which insect food is plentiful, and that, although they may destroy 

 some fruit in the orchards, such as cherries and apples, the chief 

 sustenance they obtain in summer from the trees consists of insects. 



The past two seasons, 1894 and 1895, have been " canker-worm 

 years " in eastern Massachusetts, and the two species of canker 

 worms, Anisopteryx vernata and Anisojjteryx pometaria, have been 

 very abundant not only in the orchards but among the elms, both 

 in the parks and woods. Those who have watched the smaller 

 warblers and sparrows feeding on these caterpillars are aware that 

 many of them escape the birds by spinning down from the twigs as 

 they are disturbed by the movements of their pursuers. The crow, 

 however, takes advantage of this habit of the worms. Its keen 

 eye marks the brown and almost leafless branches of the orchard, 

 and, as with slanting flight and sudden swing up wind the sable 

 bird flaps heavily down upon a bough, the canker worms, startled 

 by the sudden shock, spin down from the branches and twigs in 

 dozens, and the crow, moving clumsily, if you will, from branch 

 to branch, and stretching its neck after the manner of a hen en- 

 gaged in a similar occupation, quickly gathers the suspended can- 

 ker worms into its rapacious maw. Gentry refers to Anisopteryx 

 vernata as one of the species sought by the crows to feed their 

 young.* Not only does the crow destroy the smooth-skinned larvae, 

 such as noctuids and geometrids^ but it seeks out such hairy larvae 

 as those of the tent caterpillar moth CUsiocampa americana. These 

 the crow can readily secure in large numbers by tearing open their 

 nests when the caterpillars are gathered within. Crows have been 

 seen to visit these nests and empty them of their contents. This 

 habit has been recorded elsewhere. t 



In the investigations of the natural enemies of the gypsy moth, 

 undertaken by the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, the 



* " Birds of Eastern Pennsylvania," 1877, vol. II, page 5. 



t See Massachusetts Crop Report, July, 189o, "Birds as Protectors of Orclaards." 



