ECONOMIC VALUE OF BIRDS TO THE STATE. 



39 



Crow probably does more good than harm, at least when ordinary precautions are 

 taken to protect young poultry and newly planted corn against his depredations. 

 If, however, corn is planted with no provision against possible marauders, if hens 

 and turkeys are allowed to nest and to roam with their broods at a distance from 

 farm buildings, losses must be expected." 



While, from the nature of the case, birds' eggs and young birds can form but a 

 small portion of the annual food-supply of the Crow, I believe it to be indisputable 

 that during the nesting season they constitute a large percentage of the Crow's 

 food. Nest-robbing is not occasional but is the characteristic habit of the Crow. 

 Not only do they eat eggs and young birds, but they feed their offspring on them. 

 Doubtless few Crows live through May and June without preying on smaller birds 

 and the possibilities are that almost any one of the birds destroyed (either in the 

 egg or out of it) is of greater economic value than the Crow. The Crow, therefore, 

 in addition to the direct damage it may do our crops, robs us of the services of 

 birds far more desirable than itself. Even if the Crow, aside from its cannibal-like 

 propensities, was wholly beneficial, it would not, it seems to me, render us as great a 

 service as would have been performed by the birds it destroys. In short, in my 

 opinion, the Crow is one of the worst enemies of our small insectivorous and seed- 

 eating birds, and as such it is undeserving of protection. 



Blue Jay {Cyanositta cristata). — " The Blue Jay is a common bird of the United 

 States east of the Great Plains, and remains throughout the year in most of its 

 range, although its numbers are somewhat reduced in winter in the Northern States. 

 During spring and summer the Jay is forced to become an industrious hunter for 

 insects, and is not so conspicuous a feature of the landscape as when it roams the 

 country at will after the cares of the nesting season are over. 



" Ornithologists and field observers in general declare that a considerable portion 

 of its food in spring and early summer consists of the eggs and young of small 

 birds, and some farmers accuse it of stealing corn to an injurious extent in the fall. 

 While there may be some truth in these accusations, they have almost certainly 

 been exaggerated. No doubt many Jays have been observed robbing nests of other 

 birds, but thousands have been seen that were not so engaged. 



" In an investigation of the food of the Blue Jay 292 stomachs were examined 

 which showed that animal matter comprised 24$ and vegetable matter 76% of the 

 bird's diet. So much has been said about the nest-robbing habits of the Jay that 

 special search was made for traces of birds or birds' eggs in the stomachs, with the 

 result that shells of small birds' eggs were found in three and the remains of young 

 birds in only two stomachs. Such negative evidence is not sufficient to controvert 



