48 THE BIRDS OP NEW JERSEY. 



destroying noxious insects and other injurious animals. 

 Insects form 26 per cent, of the entire food, and the great 

 majority of these are grasshoppers, May-beetles, cut- 

 worms, and other injurious kinds. It is shown by Mr. 

 Schwarz that during the May-beetle season, in May and 

 June, these beetles form the principal insect food of the 

 Crow. Only a few stomachs do not contain them, and 

 stomachs are often filled with them. The fact that the 

 May-beetle season coincides with the breeding season of 

 the Crow is of special importance, the principal insect 

 food of nestling Crows consisting of these beetles. Mr. 

 Schwarz also finds that grasshoppers occur in the stom- 

 achs throughout the year; that during the May -beetle 

 season they occur in the vast majority of stomachs, but 

 usually in moderate numbers; that with the disappearance 

 of May-beetles towards the end of June they increase in 

 number until in August and throughout the fall they 

 constitute by far the greater part of the insect food, often 

 occurring in astonishing numbers, and often forming the 

 only insect food. To the same side of the scale must be 

 added the destruction of mice, rabbits, and other injurious 

 rodents by the Crow. In summing up the benefits and 

 losses resulting from the food habits of this bird, it is 

 clear that the good exceeds the bad and that the Crow is 

 a friend rather than an enemy of the farmer." 



€)row Blackhlrd. See Purple Grrackle. 



Crow Blackbird. See Bronzed Grackle. 



t}row, MPucU. See Coot. 



Crow, Fish. — Length, sixteen inches; extent, thirty- 

 three inches; biU, one and a half inches. The general 

 color is a jet black, with blue and purplish reflections and 

 somewhat greenish on the upper part. It is very similar 

 to the common Crow, both in appearance and nesting. 

 The eggs are four to six in number, one and a half by 



