THE CROW AND ITS RELATION TO MAN. 31 



found in 34 of the 1,340 stomachs, an average of about 1 in every 39|, 

 while their eggs were present in 13, or 1 in about every 103. As in 

 no case were both birds and eggs found in the same stomach, a total 

 of 47 out of 1,340, or 1 out of about 28^, would represent in a way 

 the extent of the adult crow's depredations on other species. In the 

 examination of stomachs it was found that the greatest quantity was 

 eaten in July. This result was obtained because in three cases wild 

 birds constituted over half the stomach contents. June, however, is 

 the month when this food is secured most frequently. Twenty of the 

 203 birds secured in this month had fed on wild birds or their eggs. 

 In May, 10 out of 197 had subsisted on similar food; and in the 

 remaining months, when such depredations were confined to wild 

 birds only, no eggs being taken, this kind of food was less frequent. 

 It occurred in four of the stomachs collected in April ; in three each 

 in. January, March, and July ; and in one each in February, Septem- 

 ber, November, and December. 



It is apparent, then, that the greatest consumption of birds by 

 adult crows takes place during the breeding season, in May and June, 

 and in addition there must be considered an even greater proportion 

 of such food fed to their nestlings during the former month (see 

 p. 64). At this time the demand for animal food of the most 

 nutritious kind is imperative with parent crows, which may have 

 as many as six or seven ravenous young to feed. Identification of 

 species, whether birds or eggs, from the remains in the stomachs is 

 seldom possible. The birds eaten are usually nestlings of smaller 

 species, whose tender bones furnish poor material for accurate deter- 

 mination, and the eggshells are usually broken to small bits, from 

 which it is difficult to judge either size or markings. A stomach of 

 one young crow from Kansas contained one foot each of a red-headed 

 woodpecker and an upland plover. Warblers were questionably 

 identified in two stomachs, and single individuals of the following 

 birds were found in others: Buffed grouse, bob white, goldfinch, 

 bluebird ( ? ) , song sparrow ( ? ) , meadowlark ( ? ) , and indigo bunt- 

 ing ( ?). The shell of the egg of a robin or wood thrush was recog- 

 nized in two stomachs, that of a catbird in one, and of a meadow- 

 lark (?) in another. 



While most records of attacks by crows upon other birds are asso- 

 ciated with species of more or less confiding habits, as robins, catbirds, 

 and brown thrashers, other species also suffer occasionally. Below 

 is a list of birds which, according to records of the Biological Survey, 

 have been maltreated by their black relatives. The bulk of the infor- 

 mation was received in response to letters of inquiry sent to reliable 

 observers : 



Pigeon guillemot, herring gull, glaucous- winged gull, tern (sp.), 

 anhinga, Baird cormorant, mallard, canvas-back, ibis (sp.), Ameri- 



