THE CROW AND ITS RELATION" TO MAN". 41 



the fleshy food eaten. In examining the stomachs every possible 

 effort was made to determine the nature of this* animal food. Error 

 may have crept in in some instances, but a sufficient number of 

 accurate identifications of carrion were made to warrant the asser- 

 tion that crows readily consume such food at any time of the year 

 and, when winter deprives them of much of their customary food, 

 they will subsist extensively upon it. 



The stomachs of adult crows examined revealed a yearly percent- 

 age of carrion of 2.58. This consisted of remains of small mammals, 

 some chickens, fish, pieces of flesh and bone torn from larger car- 

 casses, horse hair, hog bristles, and the like. It is highly probable 

 that a large portion of the fish remains mentioned on page 27 also 

 should be classed as carrion. January was the month of greatest 

 consumption when such matter constituted nearly 9 per cent of the 

 food. The other months were varyingly represented: April with 

 5.24, February, March, May, and September with from 2 to 3, and 

 the. remaining months with less percentages, down to July, which had 

 only 0.29. In general these figures showed a greater consumption 

 of carrion during the colder months. 



Field observations indicate the extent to which these birds will 

 sometimes subsist on offal, and numerous instances are on record of 

 their rendering valuable service as scavengers. Dr. S. D. Judd, in 

 writing of his experience with these birds in Maryland, said : 1 



Crows and buzzards are valuable scavengers of dead fish cast up at low 

 tide during the last of April and the first of May, when the fishing season is 

 at its height. These fish are small, principally sunfish, white perch, and shad 

 that were fatally injured by nets. Observations on May 5, 1901, showed the 

 whole river front of the farm strewn with decaying fish, which gave out such 

 a stench that one could not sit comfortably within several hundred yards of 

 the beach. Some 40 buzzards were feeding on the carrion all day. On close 

 inspection they were seen to be selecting that which was most badly decom- 

 posed. Crows in almost as large numbers and several crow blackbirds were 

 also feeding, but they commonly took that which was less decayed. Several 

 crows came repeatedly to the shore of lot 1, picked up fish, and carried them 

 to their nests in the woods. By abating this nuisance crows and buzzards do 

 a service that is appreciated by the occupants of the farmhouse. 



P. S. Farnham, of Owego, N. Y., has written to the Biological 

 Survey, stating — 



From pollution or other cause a great many fish die during the summer in 

 the Susquehanna River here. The crow keeps these dead fish fairly well 

 picked up. During a rise in the river this last summer I sat upon the banks 

 near Campville and watched the crows. The dead fish were floating down and 

 as soon as a crow saw one he would fly out, pick up the fish, take it ashore, and 

 eat it. (1911.) 



i.ludd, S. D., Birds of a Maryland Farm: Bull. 17, Biological Survey, U. S. Dept. Agr., 

 p. 53, 1902. 



