24 THE COMMON CROW. 



A little calculation shows that the roost of 15 acres must have con- 

 tained upward of 778,000,000 seeds, or more than enough to plant 1,150 

 acres as thickly as wheat is sown. 



Of course the seeds thus dropped at the roost are subject to such 

 unfavorable conditions that comparatively few grow, but it must be 

 remembered that Crows spend only the hours of darkness at the roost, 

 while during at least twelve hours each day they are dispersed far and 

 wide over the surrounding country, collecting and distributing these 

 seeds. The process of digestion — at least the preliminary process — is 

 very rapid in Crows. A caged Crow experimented on during several 

 months in the winter of 1889-90 ate berries of poison ivy with greater 

 relish than any other wild fruit obtainable. He swallowed about 80 ber- 

 ries within a few moments, taking several mouthfuls of sand immediately 



\W Smooth SvwnxcLd 

 ~R.o\AgH- leccvect CorrteL- ( Rhus glabrae) 



(Corpus ccsp&rijVucc} Coctbriei 



( S miUxx r o tuncty o I ux ) 



Pots orb Sumac, 



[R.Hus verterta/tcu) . 



Flowering Dogwood. 



(Corn-us f lor- idee) 



Poison Ivy 



(Rku_s toxicocLen-ctrort-) 



Sour (xu ttl r Tied, Cedax 



Oyssa cx^uaUccu) (Jumpers vlrgiruiamis) 



Fig. 2.— Some common seeds found in Crow pellets. 



afterwards, and about thirty minutes later he disgorged a large pellet 

 consisting entirely of sand and the seeds of the Rhus berries, the latter 

 with every shred of pulp removed by the action of the gizzard-like 

 stomach. Subsequent experiments showed that indigestible substances, 

 such as the teeth and bones of mice, hard seeds, snail shells, and so 

 on, were not always disgorged with such promptness. In one case a 

 white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopas) was fed to this Grow in the fore- 

 noon, and later in the day — but before any pellet had been disgorged — 

 a common house mouse (Mus musculus) was given him. In little more 

 than an hour afterwards a pellet was disgorged consisting mainly of the 

 fur and bones of the common mouse — the last swallowed — and it was not 



