THE CROW AND ITS RELATION TO MAN. 39 



recorded. March to July, inclusive, is the time of year when the 

 greater part of this food is eaten, the maximum quantity (2.65 per 

 cent) being taken in May. 



Cottontail rabbits {Sylvilagus spp.), especially the young, were 

 the rodents most frequently taken by adult crows, being found in 21 

 stomachs. It is doubtful whether crows during the breeding season 

 play a less important part in the control of these animals than do 

 any of the birds of prey. In areas where cottontails are plentiful 

 they form an important part of the food of nestling crows (see page 

 66) and, quite naturally, the parent birds subsist on much the same 

 fare. This food habit appears to be universal, records coming from 

 all parts of the country. In four instances cottontails formed over 

 half the stomach contents. 



The following account of an attack by a crow upon a cottontail is 

 given by Prof. W. B. Barrows : 1 



On one occasion the writer saw a tragedy of this kind while driving along a 

 Maryland road in June. A crow suddenly sailed over the fence and alighted 

 in the road about 100 yards ahead of the horse. As he lit, he struck savagely 

 with his bill at some dark object on the ground which tried to escape by jump- 

 ing from side to side, but the crow followed each motion, striking quickly and 

 heavily each time until the animal lay quiet, when, after a thorough pound- 

 ing, the bird prepared to tear his quarry to pieces. Alarmed by the near ap- 

 proach of the wagon, he seized his prey in his bill and flew heavily over the 

 bushes which fringed the road. Creeping to the fence I was able to identify 

 the victim as a young rabbit, and subsequently found its tracks in the road at 

 the point where the crow had attacked it. My companion said that usually 

 he had seen young rabbits at this place in the road for a week past, but 

 this was the first time he had seen one attacked by a crow. 



Of the smaller rodents, meadow mice (Microtus) are the favorite 

 food of the crow. They were identified in 20 of the 1,340 stomachs, 

 in some of which they constituted a substantial portion of the diet. 

 In one stomach, collected in New York in March, a meadow mouse 

 made up 87 per cent of the contents ; in another from the same State 

 two individuals composed 38 per cent of the food; and in 5 others 

 such rodents formed over three-fifths of the diet. Remains of white- 

 footed mice {Peromyscus) were present in 5 stomachs, in one of 

 which they amounted to 60 per cent of the contents. House mice 

 (Mus musculus) were eaten by 5 crows. A brown rat (Rattus nor- 

 vegicus) was captured by one. Four of five crows collected in 

 Louisiana in January had fed on apparently more than one cotton 

 rat (S'igmodon Mspicliis). The birds were secured at the same time 

 and place and all probably were engaged in the same hunt. A 

 harvest mouse {Reithrodontomys) and a pocket gopher (Thomomys) 

 also were found in separate stomachs. 



1 Barrows, W. B., The Common Crow of the United States : U. S. Dept. Agr., Div. 

 Ornithol. and Mamm., Bull. No. 6, pp. 81-32, 1895. 



