28 BULLETIN 621, IT. S, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



KEPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS. 



Eeptiles and amphibians are frequently found in the stomachs of 

 crows, both adult and young, though the latter take a much larger 

 quantity (see p. 63). Such food formed 1.37 per cent of the diet of 

 the old birds, reaching a maximum in April, when it totaled 4.38 per 

 cent. June and July were represented with about 3 per cent each 

 and May and August with about 2. In no other month did such 

 food form as much as 1 per cent. 



Reptiles. 



Eeptiles, including turtles, lizards, and snakes, were less frequently 

 taken than amphibians. They occurred in 76 of the 1,340 stomachs. 

 As in the case of fish remains, it is often impossible to determine 

 whether reptilian food was picked up as carrion or acquired by the 

 predatory activities of the crow. It is highly probable, though, that 

 at least half the reptiles eaten were dead when found. 



The turtles secured were usually young ones, some of which appar- 

 ently were painted terrapins (Chrysemys picta) and box turtles 

 ( Cistudo Carolina) , though the disintegrated condition in which they 

 were found prevented accurate identification. Lizards were found in 

 8 stomachs, but in only one could even generic identification be made. 

 Snakes, discovered in 48 of the 76 stomachs in which reptiles oc- 

 curred, formed the bulk of the reptilian food. In only two instances 

 could more accurate identification be made, a garter snake (Eutamia 

 sp.) and a blue racer {Zamenis constrictor) being recognized. 



It is doubtful whether in its consumption of reptiles the adult 

 crow is doing any appreciable harm or good. So many of those 

 eaten are in the form of carrion that the remaining portion is neg- 

 ligible in quantity. At the same time those captured alive appear 

 to be about equally divided between beneficial and injurious forms. 

 Turtles are to a certain extent injurious, lizards largely beneficial, and 

 snakes (such as the crow eats) divided between the small insectivo- 

 rous and rodent-eating forms and some large species, as racers, which 

 prey upon the eggs and young of insectivorous birds. There is no 

 evidence that crows subsist to any extent on poisonous reptiles, even 

 in areas where the latter are abundant. 



Amphibians. 



Toads, frogs, and salamanders, from their almost exclusively 

 insectivorous habits, must be ranked among the most beneficial crea- 

 tures preyed upon by the crow. The first of these especially come 

 in contact with many of the insect pests of garden and field; frogs 

 necessarily confine their activities to aquatic or at least moist situa- 

 tions, where they feed on insects less intimately connected with the 



