THE CROW BLACKBIRD. 63 
In addition to the insects specified, representatives of several other 
orders were found, but not in such large or regular quantities as to 
render them an important element of food. Hymenoptera are repre- 
sented mostly by ants, while flies are entirely absent, being probably 
too lively to be taken by such sluggish birds. Spiders and myriapods 
(chousand-legs) were noted in sufficient numbers to demand recogni- 
tion. They are eaten to some extent during every month, but not, as 
arule. in large quantities. The spiders attain a maximum of more 
than 7 percent in May, and not only the spiders themselves, but their 
cocoons full of eggs appear to be taken whenever found. The myria- 
pods are eaten somewhat less frequently, but appear in nearly every 
month. 
Crustaceans, represented by crayfish, are very commonly eaten, 
though they do not constitute a large percentage of the food. It often 
happens that the only trace of these creatures found in a bird’s stom- 
ach consists of the gastroliths, or ‘stomach stones,’ which are two 
saucer-shaped calcareous bodies found one on each side of the cray- 
fish’s stomach. One grackle, taken in Iowa, had no less than 26 of 
these stomach stones in its stomach. It seems hardly probable that 
this bird had eaten 13 crayfish at one meal or within a very short time, 
and it is possible that the gastroliths had been picked up on the banks 
of a pond or stream where the crustaceans had died and left their 
remains. In addition to crayfish, a few sowbugs (Oniscus) were found 
in some of the stomachs. 
Snails of various species, both terrestrial and aquatic, with a few 
small bivalve mollusks, are also eaten by blackbirds, but, like the 
crustaceans, they form only a small percentage of the food. It might 
at first be supposed that these creatures were taken for the sake of the 
lime in their shells, as an aid in forming the eggshells of the black- 
birds, but we find that they are eaten by both adult and young birds, 
by both sexes and at all seasons, which precludes the idea that the 
lime is used exclusively for this purpose. Earthworms were found in 
only a few stomachs, their scf@ being noticed in a few others; but 
such soft and probably easily digested creatures are difficult to iden- 
. tify when they have been in the stomach a short time, and so may be 
easily overlooked. 
The vertebrate food of the grackles consists of mice, birds and 
their eggs, lizards, snakes, frogs and salamanders (newts), and. fish. 
So few remains of mice were found that these mammals can hardly be 
considered a legitimate article of the birds’ diet. Birds and their egos 
have been already discussed. Lizards’ remains were found in a few 
stomachs taken in Florida, and the vertebre of snakes were found 
occasionally, but not often. Frogs, tree toads, and salamanders are 
eaten, but not frequently, and do not appear to be a favorite food, or 
else are not easily taken. The same may be said of the fish whose 
bones appear now and then in the stomachs. 
