37 



crow has been found one of the most useful birds. It destroys not 

 only the caterpillars but also the pupae in large numbers.* These 

 observations, made in 1895, have since been supplemented by more 

 complete and convincing investigations made during the present 

 year. Wherever the caterpillars of the gypsy moth appear in such 

 numbers in the woods as to strip the trees of their foliage to a 

 noticeable degree, crows seem to be attracted from the neighboring 

 woods by the abundance of insect food, and they frequently have 

 been seen to lead their fledged young to such localities. These 

 families of crows may often be found in the early morning feeding 

 upon the larvfe and pupae of the gypsy moth. Like the jays, 

 shrikes and titmice, they destroy many insects which they do not 

 eat, although they eat greedily. In such cases it will be noted that 

 stomach examinations would not show the full value of the birds 

 as caterpillar eaters. 



. In view of the well-known difficulty encountered in approaching 

 crows, some doubt may be expressed as to the accuracy of these 

 observations. This work has been so carefully done, however, 

 that there can be no possibility of mistake. The caterpillars and 

 pupaa of the moth are quite large and conspicuous, and the birds 

 have been observed at such close range that in some cases the num- 

 ber of insects they ate might be readily counted. Mr. Bailey 

 carefully concealed himself early one morning in a swamp in 

 Maiden, Mass., for the purpose of watching birds that fed on the 

 caterpillars and other forms of the gypsy moth which swarmed on 

 the near-by trees. No crows came at first, but soon two adults 

 and their four young appeared, and most of them remained feed- 

 ing on the moths for nearly an hour, and until an incautious move- 

 ment of the observer startled them, when they left and did not 

 return while he was there. The caterpillars have the habit of 

 clustering in sheltered situations on the trunks of trees and under 

 sides of branches during the day. A crow would approach one 

 of these clusters and eat some of the caterpillars and pupas, peck- 

 ing and killing many more than it ate, dropping their mutilated 

 forms on the ground. The crows all seemed to prefer the pupae 

 to the caterpillars, possibly on account of the disagreeable charac- 

 ter of the larval hairs. For a poi'tion of the time the crows were 

 picking up pupffi as rapidly as a domestic fowl picks up corn. One 

 of the young crows while engaged in feeding came within ten feet 

 of the observer. Their feeding could be readily seen, as the cater- 

 pillars had stripped nearly all the leaves from the trees. They 

 moved through the trees about and above the observer during most 



* Report of the State Board of Agriculture on " The Gypsy Moth," 1896, page 217. 



