58 BULLETIN 621, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



in numerous stomachs, in each of two instances 10 individuals being- 

 eaten. The- carrot beetle (Ligyrus gibhosus) and others of the same 

 genus occurred frequently in stomachs from Kansas and Missouri, 

 though in no case in large numbers. June bugs (Cotinis nitida), 

 vine chafers (Anomala spp.), goldsmith beetles (Cotalpa lanigera), 

 and other related forms were found now and then in the nestling 

 stomachs. The dung-inhabiting scarabseids (Laparosticti) , are eaten 

 by young crows frequently, though the small size of some, as Apho- 

 dius, prevents their forming an appreciable portion of the food. 

 Tumblebugs {Canthon and Geotrupes) occurred very regularly in 

 material from Kansas, in some instances as many as a dozen of these 

 large beetles being present in a single stomach. Copris, Onthopha- 

 gus, and Phanceus carnifex also were found. 



Carabid^e. — Ground beetles formed 3.90 per cent of the food of 

 nestlings compared with 5.54 per cent for the adults during approxi- 

 mately the same period. Of the caterpillar hunters, Galosoma 

 calidum was most often fed to the young, 46 of the 778 nestlings 

 having eaten one or more individuals. Calosoma externum, a still 

 larger form, was found in numerous stomachs from Kansas, while 

 the brightly colored and malodorous C. scrutator was present in 24 

 stomachs. Of the large ground beetles, the broad Pasimachus was 

 most commonly fed to nestlings. This is especially the case in 

 young secured in Missouri and Kansas. A brood of four, partly 

 feathered, taken at Onaga, Kans., had eaten 17 of these large 

 beetles, along with 3 Calosoma externum, 7 Chlcenius, 2 Scarites, 

 and one other ground beetle. They were present in about two- 

 fifths of the stomachs taken in this locality, while of the total num- 

 ber of 778 nestlings 139 had subsisted upon them. Various other 

 ground beetles, Scarites, Harpalus, Evarthrus, Pterostichus, and 

 Amara, were present in approximately the same proportions as in 

 stomachs of adult crows. At times, when the young were fed on 

 members of several genera, the total number eaten was considerable. 

 One partly feathered young had eaten no less than 60 individuals 

 of the genera Chlamius, Anisodactylus, Gratacanthus, and Scarites. 



Rhynchophora. — Nestling crows eat very few weevils. As in the 

 case of the adults (see p. 18) the clover-leaf weevil {Hyp era 

 punctata) and the imbricated snout -beetle {Epicmrus imbricatus) 

 are the only ones worthy of note. The former was present in 32 of 

 the 778 stomachs. One collected in Maryland contained 18 of these 

 weevils along with 8 Epicmrus; and another, secured in New York, 

 had made away with 11. Imbricated snout-beetles were present 

 in 126 stomachs, in two instances as many as 32 individuals being 

 recorded. One of the latter two was collected in Maryland and the 

 other was of a hatch of five secured in the District of Columbia, each 



