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. H^anenoptera 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 

 (thousand-legs) were noted in sufficient numbers to demand recogni- 

 tion. They are eaten to some extent during every month, but not, as 

 a rule, in large quantities. The spiders attain a maximum of more 

 than 7 percent in May, and not onl}^ 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 the}^ 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 craj^fish 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 {Ojitscus) 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 the}^ 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 setm 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 eggs 

 have been already discussed. Lizards' remains were found in a few 

 stomachs taken in Florida, and the vertebrse of snakes were found 

 occasionalh^, 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 easil}" taken. The same may be said of the fish whose 

 bones appear now and then in the stomachs. 



