SEED PLANTING BY CROWS. 23 



roosts in Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Kentucky. The usual size and 

 appearance of these pellets is shown in the accompanying figure (fig. 1) : 



The number of seeds distributed by 

 Crows is enormous, and since it has been 



shown byexperiment that the vitality of / \ j|| 



such seeds is not impaired by the partial 

 digestion to which they are subjected, it 

 is evident that Grows effect the distri- 

 bution of many plants. 



Reference to the chapter on the vege- 

 table food of the Crow (pp. 81-87) will 

 show that the stomach contains fruit 

 seeds at all seasons, but especially 

 during the autumn. It is certain, 

 therefore, that southward-bound Crows FlG - i-Crow pellet or casting. 



deposit the seeds of many common fruits all along their migration route. 

 Some of these, as the wild cherry (Primus), flowering dogwood (Cornus), 

 and red cedar (Juniperus), produce valuable and beautiful trees or 

 shrubs, while others, like the poison ivy and poison sumac (Rhus), are 

 detestable weeds. In the vicinity of roosts such seeds are sown by the 

 million ; many of these survive and add to the store of food for birds, 

 and some to the misery of mankind. 



The following facts serve to show how extensive is this seed planting 

 by Crows in the vicinity of the winter roosts: On February 8, 1889, I 

 visited the well-known — almost historical — Crow roost located on the 

 Virginia side of the Potomac Eiver just opposite Washington, D. C. 

 The exact location of this roost varies from time to time, but at the 

 date mentioned it was entirely within the grounds of the national ceme- 

 tery at Arlington, and covered an area of 12 or 15 acres of second- 

 growth deciduous trees. The ground beneath these trees was pretty 

 evenl} r covered with the ejecta of the Crows, forming a deposit which 

 in places was an inch or more thick, though the average deposit was 

 probably rather less than half an inch. A representative spot free 

 from underbrush was selected, and all the material above the leaves 

 from an area 2 feet square was carefully collected, dried, and examined. 

 The weight of this material when dry was almost exactly 1 pound, 

 and it contained (aside from gravel, bits of bone, shell, corn hulls, and 

 some excrement) the following seeds: 



Xuniber. 



Poison ivy (Rhus toxicodendron) 1, 041 



Poison sumac (Eh uz venenata ) 341 



Other sumacs (Bh us) 3, 271 



Juniper or red cedar ( Jun ipems virgin iana ) 95 



Flowering dogwood ( Cornus fiorida) .- 10 



Sour gum (Xyssa aqnatica) 6 



Total 4, 764 



