BRANCH CHORD AT A ; CLASS 



THE BIRDS 371 



proved to do much more good than harm. Some few 

 birds have been proved to be, on the whole, harmful. 

 An investigation of the food habits of the crow, a bird of 

 ill-repute among farmers, based on an examination of 909 

 stomachs shows that about 29 per cent of the food for the 



FlG. 146. Sickle-billed thrasher, Harporhynchus redevivus. 

 from life by Eliz. and Jos. Grinnell.) 



(Photograph 



year consists of grain, of which corn constitutes something 

 more than 21 per cent, the greatest quantity being eaten 

 in the three winter months. All of this must be either 

 waste grain picked up in fields and roads, or corn stolen 

 from cribs and shocks. May, the month of sprouting corn, 



