86 Indian Museum Notes. [Vol. IV. 



a marked exception to this rule, as small, or very small, species are 

 frequently found in many stomachs. 



3. The Crow appears to prefer insects with a hard covering to the 

 more soft-bodied ones. Thus the number of the hard imagos of 

 Carabidae, Elateridae, Scarabaeidae, Curculionidae, and Acridiidae 

 enormously exceeds that of the Coleopterous, Lepidopterous, and 

 Dipterous larvae found in the stomachs, and no soft-bodied imagos 

 (a few Diptera excepted) seem to be eaten. In many instances, 

 however, this peculiarity may be explained by the fact that the 

 larvae, as a rule, live in more hidden situations and are more diffi" 

 cult to find than the imagos. But Crows derive a great deal of their 

 food from the insects living in dung heaps and dead animals where 

 Dipterous and other larvae abound ; still these are but rarely met with 

 in the stomachs. A marked exception to this rule is the frequent 

 occurrence of spiders, and more especially species of the family 

 Lycosidae, or ground spiders. 



4. It would seem that Crows have a predilection for insects pos- 

 sessing a pungent or otherwise strong taste or odour. This is exem- 

 plified by the prevalence of Carabidae (among them the often recurring 

 genus Chlaenius possessing a peculiar odour), coprophilous or necro- 

 phagous Coleoptera (Silphidae, Histeridae and Scarabaeidae Laparos- 

 ticti), ants, and more especially by the almost constant occurrence 

 of certain species of the Heteropterous family, Pentatomidae. 



5. Finally, as a peculiarity of very little importance, may be men- 

 tioned the fact that insects of a bright, and more specially golden, 

 colour are apparently very attractive to Crows and are eagerly picked 

 up by them. Thus Calosoma calidum^ with its bright golden elytral 

 spots, is met with in a large number of stomachs from various Joca- 

 lities.i Very often only little elytral fragments of this species are 

 found which would seem to indicate that the birds even pick up the 

 elytra of dead beetles. Another striking illustration is furnished by 

 the frequent occurrence of Euphoria fulgida, with its peculiar 

 golden-green colour. Other examples are the Cicindelidae, Pterosti' 

 chus sayi, Geotrypes splendidui, Phanmus carnifex^ and others. 



If we now proceed to a consideration of the insects eaten by the 

 Crow it is at once evident that a mere list of them, comprising as it 

 does several hundred species, is only bewildering and misleading. 

 If all the numerous species which occur only once or at best in a 



1 No traces of our common and bright-colored Calosoma scrutator and C. viilcoxi have 

 been found in the stonrachs but this is easily explained from the habits of these species which 

 live in the woods and are more or less arboreal, whereas C calidum \s strictly terrestrial 

 and frequents pastures and fields. 



