422 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 
or under the various objects lying on the surface; or such as live in the dung of domestic 
animals, in decaying vegetable or animal matter, or underground. * * * The almost 
complete absence of the numerous arboreal insects of all orders * * * indicates that 
the birds when sitting or resting on trees do not pick up insects. 
“The almost constant presence of coprophagous (dung-eating) insects in the stomachs 
indicates that Crows preferably frequent dry pasture lands, dry meadows, or very open 
woods, where cattle or horses are grazing. In many instances the presence of certain 
species of Chlenius, water beetles, or an occasional aquatic hemipter or a Gryllotalpa or 
Corydalus, ete., shows that the birds frequent the margins of ponds or streams. 
“The insect food of the Crow consists only of large or medium-sized insects; small species 
are only rarely, if ever, picked up. The smallest insects found are certain species of 
Aphodius (dung-beetles). Ants form a marked exception to this rule, as small or very 
small species are frequently found in many stomachs [doubtless taken with carrion]. 
“The Crow appears to prefer insects with a hard covering to the more soft bodied ones 
* * # no soft-bodied imagos (a few Diptera excepted) seem to be eaten * * * 
Crows derive a great deal of their food from the insects living in dung-heaps and dead 
animals, where dipterous and other larve 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 of the family Lycoside or ground spiders. [These are neutral—neither 
harmful nor beneficial]. 
“Crows seem to have a predilection for insects possessing a pungent or otherwise strong 
taste or odor. This is exemplified by the prevalence of Carabide (among them the often 
recurring genus Chlenius, possessing a peculiar odor), coprophilous or necrophagous 
coleoptera (Silphide, Histeridae and Scarabceide Laparosticti), ants, and more especially 
by the almost constant occurrence of certain species of the heteropterous family Penta- 
tomide (stink-bugs and spice-bugs). 
“The following groups of insects representing the principal (insect) food supply of the 
Crow are arranged according to their relative importance, but this sequence might undergo 
some changes if an equal number of stomachs from all parts of the country were available 
for examination: 
“1. Grasshoppers. During the months of May and June * * * grasshoppers, 
mostly of the genus Tettix, occur in the vast majority of stomachs, but with few exceptions 
in moderate numbers only. * * * Toward the end of June specimens of the typical 
locusts (grasshoppers, Melanoplus and allied genera) increase in number until in the month 
of August and throughout the fall they constitute by far the greatest part of the insect 
food, often oceurring in astonishing numbers, and often forming the only insect food. 
“2. Dung beetles. A larger or smaller number of dung-beetles, and more especially 
of the genera Silpha, Hister, Copris, Onthophagus, Aphodius and Staphylinus, occur in most 
of the stomachs from all localities and throughout the whole year, and in many instances 
comprise the greater bulk of the insect food. 
“3. Ground beetles (Carabide). These occur likewise in the vast majority of stomachs 
from all localities and throughout the year, and the list of the species thus found is a very 
extended one. However, none of these species is ever represented by any considerable 
number of specimens in a single stomach. 
“4. May beetles (Lachnosterna). During a short period of the year, commencing, in 
the latitude of Washington, D. C. at the end of April, and in Maine and Michigan about 
a fortnight later, and extending toward the end of June, these beetles furnish, as regards 
bulk, number of specimens, and frequency of occurrence, the principal insect food of the 
Crow. * * * Frequently large numbers are found in a single stomach and this often 
to the exclusion of other insect food. This habit prevails throughout the whole region 
and would occupy the foremost rank in this enumeration but for the fact that it is restricted 
to two months of the year. * * * The principal but by no means exclusive insect 
food of the nestlings may be said to consist of these May-beetles. 
“5. Ground spiders (Lycosidse). The only soft-bodied insects that occur in a very 
large number of stomachs from all localities and throughout the warmer seasons. * * * 
Often represented in considerable numbers in the stomachs, occasionally forming the greater 
bulk of the insect food. 
“6. Weevils (Rhynchophora). Two species of weevils, Epicerus imbricatus and 
Phytonomus punctatus, both often referred to in economic entomology, occur abundantly 
in a large number of stomachs. They would play a very prominent role in the food supply 
of the Crow but for the fact that they are locally restricted. Epicerus imbricatus does 
not extend into the northern and northwestern states, and the clover weevil (Phytonomus) 
is a comparatively recent importation from Europe [First noted in Michigan in 1892, 
but now abundant and injurious]. 
“7, Cutworms (larve of Noctuids). Considering the enormous number of cutworms 
that oecur, especially in spring and the earlier part of summer, in pastures, dry meadows, 
