BUCKWHEAT AND MAST. 79 



BUCKWHEAT. 



Buckwheat occurs with some frequency in Crow stomachs, but, 

 doubtless owing to the fact that it is not widely cultivated, the propor- 

 tion is very small. Only 17 stomachs out of 909 contained buckwheat, 

 and the average for the year was less than 1 percent. Only in March 

 was it present in sufficient quantity to be noticeable. In that month 

 it formed a little over 5 percent of the entire stomach contents. This 

 was due probably to the fact that the stomachs came from a region in 

 which buckwheat happened to be abundant and the refuse seed w r as 

 picked up in the fields soon after the snow melted. There is little to 

 indicate that the Crow ever attacks growing or ripening buckwheat. 



It is significant that among the various weed seeds picked up in small 

 quantities by Crows species of the buckwheat family {Polygonacew) 

 outnumber most other kinds. This probably is not due to any partic- 

 ular fondness for these seeds, but simply to the fact that they are abun- 

 dant in waste places and most of them are shining black seeds of 

 considerable size. 



About 6 percent of the total contents of Crow stomachs consists of 

 mast — acorns, chestnuts, beech nuts, pecan nuts, and similar food. The 

 order in which these items have been mentioned indicates their relative 

 importance, but of the entire amount at least five-sixths is made up of 

 the remains of acorns, while chestnuts and beech nuts form two-thirds 

 of the remainder, and pecan nuts and palmetto nuts, occurring only in 

 a few stomachs from Southern localities, make up the rest. Acorns in 

 Crow stomachs reached their maximum in October, when they formed 

 15J percent of the contents of the stomachs examined. In November 

 the percentage fell to 9J; in December to about 4, with a slight increase 

 in January, while in February this average was doubled, and in March 

 it reached almost 9J. 



These figures naturally reflect the conditions of the food supply. In 

 October most acorns ripen and fall, and the Crows easily obtain large 

 quantities either directly from the trees or from the ground. By the 

 middle of November few acorns are left upon the trees, and the fallen 

 leaves have hidden part of those on the ground. In December and 

 January snow usually covers the ground, and the supply of acorns must 

 be obtained from places swept bare by the wind, from edges of streams, 

 and springy places where the snow does not accumulate, or from the 

 bare ground during occasional thaws. A large proportion of the Crow 

 stomachs taken in December and January were collected during snowy 

 weather, when such food must have been extremely hard to find. In 

 February and March the melting snow again exposes the acorns, which 

 are all the more acceptable from the fact that the cornfields have been 

 so carefully gleaned already. 



