70 The common crow. 



rolled up like a rug or carpet. A farmer living in the vicinity told me that the 

 Crows visited the place every day to feed upon the grubs that destroyed the turf. 

 The grubs or larvae were about three-fourths of an inch in length; body whitish, 

 with some dull plumbeous underneath; head blackish. I think these are the kind 

 so often found in corn hills and which do much damage to the corn. If so, this 

 speaks a good word for the Crow. 1887. 



Waverly. — S. J. Wolcott: Crows in the springtime feed largely on cutworms, both 

 on sod lands and after the same have been plowed. I have known them to work on 

 cutworms in my tobacco field. After setting, when the worms are cutting the young 

 plants, the Crows are there every morning, and no doubt destroy great numbers of 

 them. They have been reported to eat potato bugs to some extent, but I am not 

 prepared to verify the statement. 1892. 



North Carolina, Piitsboro. — E. T. Adney : It eats a great many insects, particu- 

 larly grasshoppers. 1885. 



Ohio, Wakeman. — W. B. Hall : Crows are decidedly insectivorous if domestication 

 does not alter their habits. At different times I have kept Crows which were taken 

 from the nest when nearly full fledged. They became very tame, so that I had a 

 chance to watch their actions and manner of feeding. I find that they are not par- 

 ticular in their diet as to whether the insect is injurious or beneficial. They feed 

 greedily on the different species of cutworm (Agrotis) and on the white grub (larva 

 of Lachnosterna fusca) . When plowing they will follow in the furrow and pick up 

 every grub or beetle in sight, and when their appetites are satisfied they fill their 

 beaks with insects and hide them under sticks, leaves, or stones. I have often taken 

 the pains to look up their hiding places and count the insects thus hidden, and I 

 have been astonished at their numbers. They kill predaceous beetles, but do not 

 often eat them, I think on account of the peculiar odor most of them emit. For the 

 sake of experiment, I have taken the Crows to a board or stone which, on being 

 removed, exposed many black beetles (mostly Galerita), They wouid pounce on a' 

 beetle, give it a pinch through the head or thorax, drop it, and seize another with 

 such rapidity that but few, if any, escaped. I could not on any condition tempt their 

 appetites with Colorado beetles, squash bugs, cucumber bugs, or any of the soldier 

 bugs or ladybirds (Coccinella). I had a male Crow that would eat the cabbage cater- 

 pillar (Pieris rapes) with evident relish, while his mate disdained such plebeian diet. 

 They would kill the sow bugs (Oniscus) and species of Myria23oda, but would not eat 

 them. 



Wauseon. — Thomas Mikesell: It feeds on cutworms, May beetles, white grubs, 

 chinch bugs, and eggs of grasshoppers. These form its principal food. 1885. 



Waverly. — H. W. Overman : It is a lover of grasshoppers and destroys great num- 

 bers of them, especially in the fall. 1885. 



Oregon, Dilley. — George S. Johns: It feeds extensively on grasshoppers and 

 crickets. 1885. 



Pennsylvania, East Brook. — T. Scott Fisher : I watched a pair of Crows follow 

 me dajr after day last spring (1886) while plowing sod, and have seen one Crow pick 

 up 25 to 40 white grubs, cutworms, and wireworms at one time, and then fly to the 

 woods for an hour or so, then back again. 



Philadelphia. — J. Percy Moore: When the seventeen-year cicada appeared this 

 summer (1885) the Crow fed extensively on both its pupa) and imagos. The young 

 were fed, to some extent, on the pupae (May 30, 1885). As they had not at this time 

 appeared above the ground, I suppose the Crows obtained them in plowed fields. 

 On June 17 I noticed them feeding on the adults. I have seen Crows feeding in 

 plowed fields before the grain was planted (March 10, 1885), and I think they were 

 feeding on the larvae of the June bug or other beetles which live in the ground. I 

 have also seen them eat large ants which live on trees and burrow into the wood 

 (July 1) and other species of insects which I was not able to identify from a 

 distance. 



