THE CROW, BIRD CITIZEN OF EVERY LAND 



660 



From E. R. Kalmbach 



WHAT IT TAKES TO RAISE A CROW 



The nestling crow requires about 10 ounces of food per day, or about i3 J /i pounds for its 

 nestling life of three weeks. At the end of that time it will weigh about a pound. During 

 this period it will have eaten two and a quarter times its own weight of May beetles. The 

 grasshoppers it has eaten would, if combined, form a mammoth insect about twice the size of 

 the bird. Wild birds and poultry would each form a mass about a fifth of the crow's weight 

 and corn about one and one-half times its mass. Here are pictured a fully fledged young 

 crow and its principal food items. These include small mammals, spiders, caterpillars, May 

 beetles, poultry, wild birds, miscellaneous beetles, carrion, corn, amphibians, crustaceans, and 

 grasshoppers. These are all drawn to a scale that approximately represents the aggregate 

 mass of the different items consumed during the nestling life, compared with the bird that ate 

 them. 



mainly insectivorous, and their loss is to 

 be deplored, but in the destruction of 

 mice of various kinds the crow serves 

 the best interests of the farmer. 



THE CROW IN THE CORN-ElELD 



The crow and the corn crop are in- 

 separable. Corn is the crow's staff of 

 life, though much of what it takes is 

 eaten more from dire necessity than from 



choice. Corn forms over 38 per cent of 

 the adult crow's food ; but by far the 

 largest portion is consumed from the 

 middle of November to the end of March, 

 a time when there is no sprouting grain 

 to be had and when the crop of the year 

 should be securely housed. It appears, 

 then, that waste grain forms the greater 

 portion of the crow's corn diet. 



This fact, however, does not absolve the 



