THE CROW AND ITS RELATION TO MAN. 57 



Animal Food. 



Animal food comprised 83.49 per cent of the diet of the nestling 

 crows examined, insects forming the major portion, 48.36 per cent. 

 Nearly half of this, 23.93 per cent, was composed of beetles, slightly 

 less than the corresponding percentage in the diet of adults during 

 May. 



Coleoptera. 



ScARABiEiDiE. — Scarabaeid beetles, most of which were May beetles 

 (Phyllophaga) were the most important coleopterous remains found 

 in the nestlings' stomachs. In bulk these beetles and their larvae, 

 white grubs, formed 17.44 per cent of the food, about 3 per cent 

 less than in the diet of the adults during the same period. While 

 both in percentage of food and number of individuals eaten the 

 adult crow consumes more May 'beetles than its young, the impor- 

 tance of such food eaten by the latter must not be overlooked. 

 For instance, each one of a brood of three nestlings collected in Wis- 

 consin had been fed entirely on these insects. Five young taken in 

 the District of Columbia had subsisted to the extent of nearly three- 

 fourths of their food on adult May beetles, an aggregate of about 

 70 individuals being consumed by the brood. Another hatch of 

 three secured in Maryland had fed on them to an extent of 84, 98, 

 and 80 per cent, respectively, of their food. Stomachs collected at 

 Onaga, Kans., in May of 1913 and 1914, revealed the remains of 

 these beetles and their larva? in remarkably large numbers. A series 

 (three broods) of 12 nestlings, three-fourths grown, had eaten a 

 total of 301, an average of over 25 apiece, along with several 

 Euphoria, Phanceus, Canthon, Geotrupes, and other scarabaeids. 

 One of these had eaten 53, the highest number of May beetles re- 

 corded for a young crow. Another group of 17 (four broods) had 

 destroyed 344, an average of over 20 apiece. Six others (two 

 broods) had made away with 135 beetles. Of a total of 359 stomachs 

 of nestling crows collected at Onaga, Kans., in 1913 and 1914, 285 

 contained remains of May beetles or their larvae. The 64 beetles 

 eaten by a brood of three secured in Dallas County, Mo., are inter- 

 esting in that they include no less than nine distinct species. Of the 

 larvae (white grubs), young crows eat a much larger proportion than 

 do the parent birds, but in no case did the numbers eaten equal those 

 of the adult beetles consumed. A brood of three partly feathered 

 young secured in Kansas had eaten 34, 28, and 23 white grubs, 

 respectively, two others had taken more than 20 apiece and six 

 others more than 10 apiece. 



Other phytophagous scarabaeids similar to those eaten by the 

 adults are also fed to the young (see p. 13). Euphorias were found 



