368 BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



carry little weight unless the facts on which these opinions are based are fully 

 known. On the other hand, the careful record of any actual experience with the 

 crow is entitled to thoughtful consideration, the weight to be given to such evidence 

 being modified only according to the known fitness or unfitness of the observer to 

 appreciate all the elements entering into the case. 



As the entire question relates primarily to the food of the crow, it is obvious that 

 the careful examination of a sufficient number of crow stomachs would be the only 

 certain method of settling all questions ; but the number of stomachs required nec- 

 essarily would be very great, and in order fully to weigh the evidence thus afforded, 

 full notes as to locality, date, time of day, character of place where killed, age of 

 bird, etc., are indispensable. 



About one hundred stomachs, accompanied by such data, have been carefully ex- 

 amined thus far. Unfortunately, however, most of these stomachs were those of 

 adult crows, and very few of them were taken during the spring and early summer, 

 when the crow is supposed to be the most beneficial. 



It has proved more difficult than was expected to secure crows during the spring 

 and summer months, but a special effort will be made during the season of 1889, and 

 it is hoped that a large number of stomachs may be collected and examined. Those 

 of young crows are particularly desired, but those of crows of any age if taken dur- 

 ing spring or summer will be very acceptable. Persons willing to aid the division 

 in this way will be furnished with instructions and materials on application to the 

 ornithologist, * and all costs of transportation will be defrayed by the department. 



In response to questions relating to the food habits of crows replies have been re- 

 ceived from upwards of five hundred persons, and the information afforded by these 

 replies, in combination with the results of dissection, form the basis of the following 

 report : 



INJURY TO INDIAN CORN, WHEAT, AND OTHER CEREALS. 



It seems almost superfluous to say that the crow at certain times and places is very 

 destructive to crops of sprouting grain, for its corn-pulling habits were well known 

 even in colonial times, and from that day until the present, wherever the bird is at 

 all abundant, a newly-planted cornfield without scare crows has been the exception 

 and not the rule. Doubtless the destruction is greatest during the first week or two 

 after the corn appears above ground, but if all reports are to be credited consider- 

 able harm is done by digging up the seed corn directly after planting, even before 

 the grain has begun to germinate. One observer states that the crow eats corn < < from 

 ten minutes after planting until the blades are three inches high," and more than a 

 score of other observers state definitely that the crow not only pulls up the young 

 plants, but digs up the newly-sown seed. 



The amount of damage to corn during spring and early summer is certainly very 

 great in some sections, and undoubtedly it would be much greater but for the al- 

 most universal custom of protecting the fields in one way or another. Of course, it 

 is absurd to say how great the loss would be in case all precautions were neglected, 

 and even in the case of actual damage it is impossible to estimate fairly the amount 

 of the loss. Among nearly two hundred and fifty reports of more or less serious in- 

 jury, less than one-fifth contain any figures from which the actual loss can be inferred 

 even approximately, while hardly a dozen state definitely the acreage planted and 

 the proportion destroyed or damaged. 



The following examples of the evidence on this question will give a fair idea of 

 the harm occasionally done. It will be noticed that they represent widely separ- 

 ated sections of the country : 



Osceola, Ark. One flock ruined a field of several acres. 



Coventry, Conn. In one field of three acres about half was destroyed ; other fields badly dam- 

 aged, probably one-third pulled up. 



Osceola, 111. Destroyed about two acres for me last year (1885) just as it was coming- through 

 the ground. 



* Dr. r. II. M<'iTi:un, Ornithologist. I". S. Department of Agriculture. Washington. D. C. 



