No. 2.] 



Reprints and Miscellaneous Notes, 



83 



THE COMMON CROW OF THE UNITED STATES AS AN 

 ENEMY TO INSECTS. 



[Reprint of a report by W. B. Barrows and E. A. Schwarz, published in Bulle- 

 tin No. 6, United States, Department of Agriculture, Division of Ornithology and 

 Mammalogy, 1895.] 



The matter of the Crow's utility as an insect destroyer is one of 

 prime importance; in fact, it is the crucial test of the bird's value- 

 The material available for the decision of this question consists of 

 the insect contents of 909 stomachs, taken at various places and 

 times, the great majority during the warmer half of the year. 



Most of the older ornithologists recognized the fact that Crows ate 

 insects in considerable numbers, but ignored the fact that many 

 insects are beneficial ; and moreover they took no pains to determine 

 what proportion of the Crow's diet consists of insects. Even at the 

 present time these points are very generally overlooked, and to the 

 best of our knowledge there is nowhere a record of the carefully 

 identified contents of a dozen Crow stomachs taken in summer. A 

 few naturalists have put on record the results of more or less 

 thorough examinations, but in too many cases we find only such 

 general statements as * contents consisted of seeds, berries, and in- 

 sects ' or possibly of 'grain, carrion, and beetles,' without any attempt 

 to determine the kind or amount of each. 



Eight hundred and one out of 909 stomachs examined contained 

 insect remains in quantities varying from the merest trace to 100 

 per cent. The following table shows the number of Crows' stomachs 

 collected during each month, the numbers which contained insect 

 remains, and the average percentage of such remains for the whole 

 number of stomachs in each month : — 



Table showing average percentages of insect material contained in 

 gog Crow stomachs, arranged by months. 



Month. 



Number 

 examined. 



Number 



containing 



insects. 



Percentage 

 of insect 

 contents. 



January 

 February . 

 March 

 April . 

 May . 

 \ une . 

 . uly . 

 August 

 September , 

 October 

 November 

 December 



• 

 • 









53 

 23 

 26 

 42 

 364 

 165 

 45 

 24 

 44 

 46 

 18 

 59 



21 

 10 

 16 



36 



357 

 157 

 42 

 24 

 40 

 42 

 17 

 39 



2*2 



33 



5-8 

 49*2 

 47-1 



4-0 

 26s 

 35'6 

 24*6 

 167 

 25-8 



47 











Total 



909 



801 



23'5 



