THE BIRDS OF XEW JERSEY. 4Y 



good traits more than counterbalance the mischief it does 

 is a question which has given rise to a great deal of dis- 

 cussion. The government has made very exhaustive in- 

 quiries into the feeding habits of the bird, the results of 

 which have been published in book form. The results of 

 these investigations, the contents of the stomachs of nine 

 hundred and nine crows taken at all times of the year 

 having been analyzed, have been summarized by Dr. C. 

 Hart Merriam, Chief of the Division of Ornithology and 

 Mammalogy, as follows: 



"The most important charges brought against the Crow 

 are: (1) That it pulls sprouting corn; (2) That it injures 

 corn in the milk; (3) That it destroys cultivated fruit; 

 and (4) That it feeds on the eggs and young of poultry 

 and wild birds. All of these charges are sustained by the 

 stomach examinations, so far as the simple fact that 

 Crows feed upon the substances named. But the extent 

 of the injury is a very different matter. In order to as- 

 certain whether the sum of the harm done outweighs the 

 sum of the good, or the contrary, the different kinds of 

 food found in the stomachs have been reduced to quant- 

 itive percentages and contrasted. The total quantity of 

 corn eaten during the entire year amounts to 25 per cent, 

 of the food of adult Crows, and only 9.3 per cent, of the 

 food of young Crows. Leaving the young out of consid- 

 eration, it may be said that in agricultural districts about 

 one- fourth of the food of crows consists of corn. But 

 less than 14 per cent, of this corn, and only 3 per cent, of 

 the total food of the crow, consists of sprouting corn, 

 and corn in milk; the remaining 86 per cent, of the corn, 

 or 97 per cent, of the total food, is chiefly waste grain 

 picked up here and there, mainly in winter, and of no 

 economic value. In the case of cultivated fruits the loss 

 is trivial. The same is true of the eggs and young of 

 poultry and wild birds, the total for the year amounting 

 to only one per cent, of the food. As an offset to his bad 

 habits, the Crow is to be credited with the good done in 



