32 THE COMMON CROW. 



100 yards ahead of the horse. As he lit, he struck savagely with 

 his bill at some dark object on the ground which tried to escape by 

 jumping from side to side, but the Crow followed each motion, striking 

 quickly and heavily each time until the animal lay quiet, when, after a 

 thorough pounding, the bird prepared to tear his quarry to pieces. 

 Alarmed by the near approach of the wagon, he seized his prey in his 

 bill and flew heavily over the bashes which fringed the road. Creeping 

 to the fence I was able to identify the victim as a young rabbit, and 

 subsequently found its tracks in the road at the point where the Crow 

 had attacked it. My companion said that usually he had seen young 

 rabbits at this place in the road for a week past, but this was the first 

 time he had seen one attacked by a Crow. 



Eemains of rabbits occurred in 38 of the stomachs examined, and 

 were most numerous in May, when they formed 3 percent of the 

 entire food, 30 stomachs taken during this month containing an aver- 

 age of 37 per cent of rabbits (flesh, bones, hair, and teeth). These 

 were almost invariably young, usually less than half grown. Of course 

 it is possible that some were dead, but by far the greater number 

 must have been caught and killed. In stomachs taken in April and 

 June remains of young rabbits occurred to a less extent, but at no 

 other season were any found. 



A single stomach from Maryland, taken in December, contained 

 remnants of an adult rabbit, and similar remains were found in a 

 stomach from Argentine, Kans., collected in January. Mr. Gr. E. Stil 

 well, the collector of the last-named stomach, gives the following 

 account of the capture of the rabbit by five Crows. He says : 



"On January 2, 1891, I was at a small station called Zarah, after 

 rabbits and birds, and was crossing some rough, stony hills where the 

 snow was 3 or 4 inches deep. When on top of one of the hills my atten- 

 tion was drawn to some Crows making a great fuss about something, 

 and so I crawled through the weeds and brush until I was in shelter 

 of a stone fence and about 30 feet from the birds. I had a splendid 

 view of the fight, which lasted about half an hour. The Crows took 

 regular positions, one as a sentinel on a low tree over the others, one 

 on the stone under which their victim was hiding, and the other three 

 would walk as if about to go under the stone. The rabbit would try 

 to come out, only to be driven back by savage pecks from the bird on 

 the stone. When he was finally dead they began to peck Ms head as 

 if eating. I did not wait any longer, but secured the sentinel and one 

 other." 



Another correspondent, in Livingston County, Mo., mentions the 

 fact that Crows kill rabbits, but the habit seems to have escaped gen- 

 eral notice, in spite of the fact that, as shown by the preceding table, 

 rabbits enter more largely into the Crow's diet than poultry and eggs, 

 of which he is supposed to be particularly fond. 



