APPENDIX. 



371 



they do not visit the vineyard more frequently, but as yet very few complaints on 

 this score have been received. One vineyard of several acres being just outside the 

 limits of the city of Washington, D. C., has suffered considerable loss for several 

 years from the frequent attacks of crows. One of the assistant ornithologists vis- 

 ited it in September, 1886, and again in the same month in 1888, and found abundant 

 evidence that the owner did not exaggerate when he stated his loss to be at least one- 

 fourth of the crop. Not only were crows frequently seen eating the grapes, but two 

 which were shot during the first visit had grape seeds in their stomachs. 



OTHER VEGETABLE FOOD OF THE CROW. 



In addition to the fruits and vegetables already mentioned as forming a part of 

 the crow's food, there are very many wild fruits, berries, seeds and nuts, on which 

 the crow feeds largely at times, but the consumption of which is of little account 

 to the farmer under any circumstances. 



The vegetable matter contained in the eighty-six stomachs examined was as fol- 

 lows : 



The crow is known also to eat the berries of the wintergreen, poke-weed, elder, 

 smilax and hackberry ; and doubtless it also feeds upon numerous other berries and 

 seeds. 



During autumn, and especially in the districts where grain is not readily obtaina- 

 ble, a favorite food of the crow is acorns, beech-nuts, or chestnuts, immense quanti- 

 ties of which are consumed. It may be mentioned incidentally, also, that in parts 

 of Louisiana and Texas, and probably in other states, the crow injures the pecan 

 crop to a considerable extent. 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF Noxious SEEDS. 



An interesting fact, which has come to light recently through the examination of 

 crow stomachs, is the discovery that the berries of poison sumach (Rhus venenata) 

 and poison ivy (Rhus toxicodendron) are eaten in large numbers, by the crow. 



The poison ivy (also called poison vine, poison oak, mercury, or mercury vine, 

 etc.) is too well known to need any description. The poison sumach (also called 

 swamp sumach, poison elder, poison dogwood, etc.) is a shrub or small tree, con- 

 fined mainly to swamps and wet places, and less generally known than the ivy, 

 though its poison is much more powerful. Both species bear straggling bunches of 

 greenish-white waxy berries, which cling tightly to the stems through the entire 

 winter and thus are readily obtained by crows even when the ground is deeply cov- 

 ered with snow. Each berry contains a single large seed or stone surrounded by a 

 small amount of wax-like pulp which appears to contain considerable nutritious 

 matter. 



Stomachs of crows taken in every month from September to March, and in differ- 

 ent localities from Massachusetts to Florida, were found to con tain these seeds, some- 



