No. 4.] THE CROW IN MASSACHUSETTS. 291 



birds by spinning down from the twigs as they are disturbed 

 by the movements of their ])ursiiors. The crow, however, 

 takes advantage of tliis habit of the w^orms. Its keen eye 

 marks the brown and ahnost leafless Ijranches of the orchard, 

 and, as with slanting flight and sudden swing np wind the 

 sable bird flaps heavily down upon a bough, the canker 

 worms, startled by the sliock, 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 engaged in a similar occupation, 

 quickly gathers the suspended canker worms into its ra- 

 pacious maw. Gentry refers to Anisojiteryx veniala as one 

 of the species sought by the crows to feed their young.* 

 Not only does the crow destroy the smooth-skinned larvie, 

 such as noctuids and geomeirids, 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, f 



In the investigations of the natural enemies of the gypsy 

 moth, undertaken by the Massachusetts State Board of 

 Agriculture, the crow has been found one of the most 

 useful l)irds. It destroys not only the caterpillars l)ut also 

 the im}){\! in large numbers. \ These observations, made in 

 18i)5, 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 al)undance of insect food, and 

 they frequently have been seen to lead their fledged young 

 to such localities. These families of crows may often be 

 I'ound in the early morning feeding u[)on the larvte and 

 pupie of the gypsy moth. Like the jays, shrikes and tit- 

 mice, they destroy many insects which they do not eat, al- 



• " Birds of Eastern Pennsj'lvania," 1877, vol. II., page 5. 



t See Massachusetts Crop Report, July, 1895, "Birds as Protectors of Orchards." 



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



