JTT^O^STATES 

 D'EPARTM.ENT 

 OP AGRICULTURE 



UN FX)RM ATIOjf^ ^ 



WITH UNCU: SAM'S NATURALISTS. 



Release Friday. May 9, I93O 



NOT FOB PUBLICATION 



AI.TITOUITCBCNr : Some birds are a delight to have around. Many birds are bene- 

 ficial. We all ad.nit that. Other birds are not so popular. Many \a.Td. things 

 have been said about sparrows, and starlings, and crows. Generally speaking, 

 they are gangsters, and they are so regarded and so treated. Our Wilds Man, 

 however, is going to give us the low down on them — Well, Mr. Wilds Man? 



— ooOoo — 



Let's start with the Crow. He is a ,^ngster and a robber. No question 

 about that. Some say the heart of .? crow is blacker than his feathers. But the 

 crow is not so black as he has been painted. 



No. I am not going to try to whitewash the crow. I'll adinit he pulls 

 up young corn, eats roasting ears, often feasts on ripe watermelons, and shows 

 too much fondness for little chickens. I'll ad.:iit he goes in gangs, and often 

 does heavy damage. If any of the rest of you want to testify against the crow, 

 the line forms on the right . 



But before we pass sentence on this gang, there is just one witness I want 

 to call. That is Mr. W. L. McAtee, of the Food Habits Research Division of the 

 United States Biological S-urvey. We'll just ask him to identify the articles 

 of food found in the stomach of thousands of crows collected in UO States, the 

 District of Coliju-nbia, and several Canadian Provinces. 



Then I think your verdict will be that the crows do as much good as they 

 do harm. True they do eat corn, and lots of it. They eat it all months of the 

 year-. Even in June, when there is little corn in sight, crows are smart enough 

 to find enough to make up one-fifth of all their food. But crows eat a lot of 

 other things. They get their food off the ground, and another fifth of their 

 diet is made up of insects. For every bushel of corn the crows eat in June, they 

 eat more than two bushels of insects. Young crows do even better than that.. 

 During the months of AT)ril, May, a.nd June, nestling crows eat four bushels of 

 May beetles, grasshoppers, caterpillars, ?.nd other farm pests for every one 

 bushel of corn they consume. 



According to this evidence of Mr. McAtee, the crow has been a much per- 

 secuted bird. Indiscriminate killing of crows is not warranted by the facts in 

 the case. Whore the crows are doing harm preventive measures will often put a 

 stop to the nuisance and allow the crows to continue the good work of keeping 

 down our insect anemies. !!any other facts about the crow are given in Farmers' 

 Bulletin No. 1102-F, which has for its title, "The Crow in Relation to Agricul- 

 t^ore." 



