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



allotment decreed by nature the crow must be held in check, and in 

 some sections a substantial reduction in its numbers is a prerequisite 

 to success in such enterprises. Grouse and quail are able to hold their 

 own if given sufficient cover. 



POULTRY AND THEI1J EGGS. 



Next to the pulling of sprouting corn, the destruction of poultry 

 and their eggs is the phase of the crow's life habits that is brought 

 closest to the attention of farmers generally. Though many extensive 

 raisers of poultry have had little or no complaint to enter against the 

 crow on this score, the frequency of occurrence and severity of dam- 

 age on other farms indicate that the capabilities of the crow in this 

 direction are too important to be overlooked. Judging from replies 

 to letters of inquiry, there appear to be two areas in which this trait 

 is developed to a higher degree than in others. In New York and 

 Pennsylvania in the East and in Illinois and Indiana in the Middle 

 West crows seem to be somewhat more addicted to the habit of de- 

 stroying poultry and eggs than in surrounding districts. Ofttimes 

 reports of striking similarity have come from localities widely sepa- 

 rated, while circumstances diametrically opposite have occurred on 

 neighboring farms. This fact, established by evidence from numerous 

 able observers, indicates that the destruction of domestic fowls is a 

 loss governed largely by local conditions, as the proximity of crows' 

 nests, the presence of young crows, and the accessibility of poultry 

 and their eggs. That this obnoxious trait is developed to an unusual 

 degree in certain individual crows is also apparent. It was, in fact, 

 the opinion of 121 observers out of 174 who expressed themselves 

 on the subject that the poultry-molesting habit is one mainly of 

 individuals, and that killing the comparatively few guilty of such 

 misdeeds would practically prevent further similar trouble. 



As in the consumption of wild birds and their eggs, domestic fowls, 

 their young, and their eggs were shown by stomach analysis to con- 

 stitute but a small portion of the bulk of the food — only 0.57 per 

 cent. Such food was most important to the crow in May and June, 

 when 1.49 and 1.33 per cent, respectively, was consumed. The next 

 greatest proportion, 1.26 per cent, was eaten in November. In no 

 other month did such food total as much as 1 per cent, and in August 

 and October it was altogether lacking. Remains of chickens were 

 present in 29 of the 1,340 stomachs, an average of 1 in about every 46. 

 Eggs were eaten more frequently, being found in 35, an average of 

 1 in about every 38. Since in one stomach both a chicken and an egg 

 were found, the frequency of depredations of adult crows on the barn- 

 yard, as determined by these stomachs, may be represented by the 

 ratio of 63 out of 1,340, or about 1 in every 21, a lower ratio than 



