THE CROW AND ITS RELATION TO MAN. 61 



four stomachs of another brood 2 days old, but owing to the ad- 

 vanced stage of digestion, their number could be estimated in only 

 one. This stomach contained 60. In comparatively few cases, 

 though, did caterpillars constitute a large portion of the bulk of the 

 food. One newly hatched nestling had eaten 20, which completely 

 filled its stomach. Another, nearly ready to leave the nest, had its 

 stomach 97 per cent full of the skins and finely-chewed vegetable 

 food of two large caterpillars. A brood of three had subsisted on 

 caterpillars to the extent of 87, 60, and 47 per cent, respectively, of 

 their diet. In six other instances these insects made up over 60 per 

 cent of the food. As in the case of the adult crows, cutworms 

 (Noctuidse) were found most frequently. The silken cocoons and 

 pupse of some of the larger moths are not uncommon ingredients of 

 the food. In the stomach of one nestling 110 lepidopterous eggs 

 were found. 



Hermptera. 



Bugs of various kinds constituted 2.61 per cent of the food of 

 these young birds, approximately three times the quantity taken by 

 the parents. Of the true bugs (Heteroptera) the nestlings' share is 

 essentially the same as that of the adults. In choice of forms eaten 

 their taste is quite similar (see p. 23). Stinkbugs (Pentatomida?) are 

 the ones most often found, but in no case were they taken in large 

 numbers. Among the Homoptera, one species, the periodical cicada, 

 or seventeen-year locust {Tibicen septendecim) , stands out promi- 

 nently. The series of 157 nestlings secured at Onaga, Kans., in 1913, 

 were collected just prior to the emergence of a brood of these odd 

 insects. This brood, designated as ^Number IV, 1 was common in the 

 area in which this material was secured, its range covering eastern 

 Kansas and western Iowa and Missouri. Sixty-eight of the 157 

 young crows secured at this place in 1913 had fed on cicadas, nearly 

 all of which were probably the periodical form, though accurate 

 identification was impossible in many cases, as the insect was eaten 

 in the pupal stage, and digestion soon obliterated important char- 

 acters. A brood of 7 partly feathered crows had been fed on no 

 less than 168 of these pupae, one individual taking as many as 49. 

 One from another brood had eaten 41. A series of 9, probably 2 

 broods, made away with 200. Eight other nestlings had devoured 

 over 10 apiece. That these insects at times comprise a substantial 

 part of the volume of food eaten is shown by 20 young (4 broods) , 

 which had subsisted on them to the extent of 31.3 per cent of their 

 food. Each one had fed on cicadas and in one case they comprised 

 60 per cent of the stomach contents. 



1 Marlatt, C. L., The Periodical Cicada : Bull. 71, Bur. Ent., U. S. Dept. Agr., p. 43, 1907. 



