18 BULLETIN 621, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



1.56 per cent of the yearly food. This is somewhat atoned for by 

 the presence in the diet of certain apparently herbivorous carabids. 



Rhynchophora (weevils, billbugs). — In the control of weevil 

 pests as a whole, the crow can not be considered an important factor. 

 These insects form only 0.59 per cent of its food and on only two 

 species does the bird feed to an extent sufficient for it to be con- 

 sidered even a moderate check on the increase of the insects. These, 

 are the clover-leaf weevil (Hypera punctata) and the imbricated 

 snout-beetle (Epiccerus imbrica-tus) . "The former, introduced from 

 Europe many years ago, has gradually extended its range until it is 

 now reported doing serious damage as far west as Idaho. 1 Of the 

 stomachs examined, 107 contained remains of the clover-leaf weevil, 

 an average of about 1 for every 12-| stomachs. Eleven was the 

 largest number recorded in any one stomach, that being of a crow 

 collected in New Jersey in March. The imbricated snout-beetle 

 which is known to injure a variety of crops, was found in fewer 

 stomachs (68), but in several instances in considerable numbers. 

 A series of four stomachs secured at Sandy Spring, Md., in May 

 contained 27, 25, 14, and 11, respectively. Clover-root curculios 

 (/Sitona), rhubarb curculios (Lixus concavus), and other species of 

 Lixus occurred in a limited number of stomachs. Members of the 

 genus Thecestemus were taken frequently by crows collected in the 

 central and southern parts of the Mississippi Valley. Billbugs, in- 

 cluding pests which feed to an injurious extent upon corn, small 

 grains, and grasses, also entered into the crow's diet. 



Other Coleoptera. — Other miscellaneous beetles comprised nearly 

 1 per cent of the crow's annual food. Common among these were the 

 necrophagous and coprophagous forms, Silphidse, Staphylinida?, and 

 Histeridse. These beetles were taken about as frequently as scara- 

 bseids of similar habits and often appeared in the same stomachs. 

 Their presence in the crow's diet is indicative of the bird's scavenger 

 habits, and it would appear that on occasions the crow will search 

 through carrion merely for these insects, leaving the offal as con- 

 venient bait for more. The larvae of these beetles are taken as well. 

 A crow secured in Alabama in May had fed on at least 29 larvae of 

 a JSilpha. Another from New York had eaten 13. One shot in 

 Dallas County, Mo., in June had devoured no less than 21 adults of 

 the large staphylinid Creophilus villosus, as well as 3 of a species of 

 N ecropKoinis and 9 of Silpha surinamensis, which together, forming 

 55 per cent of the food, lent strong circumstantial evidence as to the 

 nature of the remains of a chicken and turtle found in the same 

 stomaofc. Of larder beetles (Dermestidse) the crow eats few. His- 



1 Parks, T. H., Journ. Econ. Entora., VII, No. 3, p. 297, 1914. 



