THE CROW AND ITS RELATION TO MAN". 51 



sis indicates that grapes, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and 

 apples are the fruits most often eaten. But probably next in im- 

 portance to the destruction of corn and other grain by crows is the 

 damage to melons, and upon this stomach analysis sheds practically 

 no light. Complaints of this kind have come from practically all 

 of the Southern States, as well as from a few points in the North. 

 The crow's work on a melon patch is of a most annoying and destruc- 

 tive character, the damage being in the form of holes pecked into 

 the melons. Most of the punctures are small, and after eating a 

 little of the pulp and seeds of one melon the bird proceeds to another, 

 where it inflicts like injury. In this way a comparatively few birds 

 may do extensive damage. The following account by Dr. S. D. 

 Judd 1 will give some idea of the extent and nature of the losses 

 suffered : 



The only fruit grown for market that suffered from the depredations of the 

 native birds was the melon, and it was attacked by one species only — the 

 crow. In numbers from three to four to a dozen at a time, crows began to 

 injure melons about August 1 and continued for three weeks, attacking both 

 watermelons and canteloupes, but preferring the former. Each crow would 

 peck at a melon a dozen times or so and then pass on to another. If no pro- 

 tective measures had been taken, the crop would often have been a total loss, 

 and, in spite of all efforts, from 5 to 20 per cent of the melons grown at all 

 distant from buildings were punctured. (1895-1902.) 



The injury to ripening apples is at times considerable and of a 

 nature not easy to prevent, especialty in large orchards. This fruit 

 was identified in 10 stomachs. A letter from T. A. Farrand, of 

 Eaton Eapids, Mich., in this connection, reads : 



The newest thing that I know about the. crow and how destructive it can 

 be in a short time was in an apple orchard of which I have control near Ann 

 Arbor, Mich. A year ago last fall, when harvesting the apples in one end of the 

 orchard, we noticed large numbers of crows in the other end when we came to 

 work in the morning. After the second occurrence my curiosity was aroused 

 and I went to investigate. I found bushels of very fine apples ruined by their 

 pecking into them. One variety, " Jonathan," was their choice. It was the 

 first instance that I ever heard of. It did not occur this year. (1912.) 



Maj. Allan Brooks, of Okanogan Landing, British Columbia, adds 

 the corroborative evidence that " crows at the coast (both species) also 

 do great damage to ripe apples on the trees " (1912) , and H. L. Felter, 

 of Washta, Iowa, has written that " crows pick off apples apparently 

 just to see them fall to the ground. One man thinks they picked 

 off 100 bushels." (1911.) 



Reports from time to time have been made of injury to potatoes, 

 especially when sprouting. One instance was recorded a few years 

 ago at Cape Ann, Mass., where a potato patch, newly planted, was 

 attacked by crows. One side of the field had been ravaged by them, 



1 Birds of a Maryland Farm : Bull. 17, Biological Survey, IT. S. Dept. Agr., p. 57, 1902. 



