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



the potatoes being left on the ground after they were dug up. The 

 other side of the patch was " lined " with cotton string and two crows 

 were shot and hung up there, but a week later all but a few of the 

 seeds that were in hills beneath the string had been dug up. 1 



Complaints that the crow damages crops other than those men- 

 tioned have occasionally come to attention. Among these are pea- 

 nuts, beans, peas, figs, oranges, grapes, cherries, and such marketable 

 nuts as almonds, pecans, and chestnuts. Among these the most 

 extensive damage appears to have been done to peanuts, pecans, and 

 almonds. 



One observer in South Carolina asserts that it was almost impos- 

 sible to grow peanuts in his locality. George A. Blair, of Mulvane, 

 Kans., while making certain inoculation experiments with peanuts, 

 suffered severely from crows. He said : 



I could not call this a test, as the crows practically ate up the crop. We were 

 busy picking up apples and they took advantage of us and practically ruined 

 the crop so that we could not dig the nuts. (1906.) 



W. S. Cruzan, of Sulphur Springs, Tex., has said that — 



they [ crows 1 gather the pecan nuts and eat them, also storing them for future 

 use. They will often fly from a pecan tree with nuts to a place on the prairie 

 near some bushes or weeds, and deposit a little pile of nuts, often as much as a 

 pint or more. 2 



D. D. Stone, of Oswego, N. Y., states that — 



crows are great lovers of chestnuts and do lots of mischief in chestnut groves, 

 stealing the nuts from the burrs that are open. They prefer to take them 

 from the burrs, but sometimes alight on the ground for the fallen ones, A 

 few miles south of here arc 1 many chestnut groves, and in fall the crows are 

 more numerous there than here. (1911.) 



At Davis, CaL, B. S. Brown reports that — 



the greatest damage is done to the almonds. They [crows] pick the nuts off 

 the trees and beat them against a rock or tree until they break open. At 

 this time of the year (January) they are in the old orchards picking up the 

 waste nuts. (1912.) 



Concerning their depredations on peas, John H. McCluer, of 

 Franklinville, N. Y., submitted the following: 



The crows first begin on peas when the new pea in the pod is fairly well 

 formed, say one-quarter grown, and continue until ripe enough for canning 

 purposes. They eat pods and all in the young growths, but shell the pea as 

 soon as the pod toughens a little. To my personal knowledge they have 30 

 attacked three fields lying on different farms, but so near together that it is 

 possible if not probable the work was done by the same flock of crows. (1901.) 



William L. Finley reports from Oregon that — 



in the Willamette Valley the crow does considerable damage to the cherry 

 crop, but the birds are easily frightened from the trees. If unmolested they 

 will soon strip a tree. (1911.) 



1 Forest and Stream, LVIII, p. 2S5, April 12, 1902. 



2 Bull. Wilson Orn. Chap. Agassiz Association, II, No. 5, p. 12, Mar. 15, 1895. 



