THE CROW AND ITS RELATION TO MAN. 81 



the Oakland Club, in South Carolina, has written : " I pay 10 cents 

 for the bill of every crow, but can honestly say I see no great benefit 

 nor any decrease in numbers." (1912.) 



A. W. Perrior, of Syracuse, N. Y., states that " the Anglers' Asso- 

 ciation of Onondaga County offered a bounty of 5 cents a head three 

 years ago but there were very few heads brought in, due to the fact 

 that the price offered was too small." (1912.) 



Notwithstanding the popularity of the bounty system, it has several 

 objectionable features which make it not only unsatisfactory, but also 

 dangerous. Its efficiency in reducing the number of crows over large 

 areas is to be seriously questioned, inasmuch as the comparatively 

 small sum which can be offered does not often furnish a sufficient in- 

 centive for a persistent warfare of extermination. At the same time 

 the opportunities and incentives for fraudulent practices are 

 numerous. 



In many localities in which bounties have been paid more or less 

 continuously for many years, crows are still found in considerable 

 numbers, and, judging from the amounts being paid from year to 

 year for bounties, the birds do not appear to be in immediate 

 danger of extermination. The numbers of crows have been reduced 

 to some extent in comparatively restricted areas when bounties were 

 reasonably attractive. On the other hand, cases have come to atten- 

 tion where the numbers have actually increased in areas where 

 bounty laws were in force. 



To enter into a discussion of the various ways in which bounty 

 laws have led to fraudulent practices would extend this bulletin 

 beyond its legitimate scope. It will suffice to say that bounty systems 

 against crows will continue to result in meager returns for the money 

 invested as in the past, and at the same time will be liable to produce 

 conditions savoring of the iniquity with which so many of these 

 systems have been associated. 



SUMMARY. 



A brief summary of decisions reached respecting each of the more 

 important economic problems that have arisen in this investigation 

 will make it possible to review with some degree of thoroughness the 

 many-sided question of the value of the crow. 



food habits. 



Insects. 



The crow's destruction of insects presents the strongest argument 

 in the bird's favor. Nearly a fifth of the adult crow's yearly suste- 

 nance comes from such sources, and a great part of the insect mate- 

 rial is eaten early in spring, a time when the life cycles of many of 

 14653°— 18— Bull. 621 6 



