52 BULLETIN 621, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
the potatoes being left on the ground after they were dug up. The 
other side of the patch was " lined " with cotton string and two crows 
were shot and hung up there, but a week later all but a few of the 
seeds that were in hills beneath the string had been dug up. 1 
Complaints that the crow damages crops other than those men- 
tioned have occasionally come to attention. Among these are pea- 
nuts, beans, peas, figs, oranges, grapes, cherries, and such marketable 
nuts as almonds, pecans, and chestnuts. Among these the most 
extensive damage appears to have been done to peanuts, pecans, and 
almonds. 
One observer in South Carolina asserts that it was almost impos- 
sible to grow peanuts in his localit} 7 . George A. Blair, of Mulvane, 
Kans., while making certain inoculation experiments with peanuts, 
suffered severely from crows. He said: 
I could not call this a test, as the crows practically ate up the crop. We were 
busy picking up apples and they took advantage of us and practically ruined 
the crop so that we could not dig the nuts. ( 1906. ) 
W. S. Cruzan, of Sulphur Springs, Tex., has said that — 
they [crows] gather the pecan nuts and eat them, also storing them for future 
use. They will often fly from a pecan tree with nuts to a place on the prairie 
near some bushes or weeds, and deposit a little pile of nuts, often as much as d 
pint or more. 2 
D. D. Stone, of Oswego, N. Y., states that— 
crows are great lovers of chestnuts and do lots of mischief in chestnut groves, 
stealing the nuts from the burrs that are open. They prefer to take them 
from the burrs, but sometimes alight on the ground for the fallen ones. A 
few miles south of here are many chestnut groves, and in fall the crows are 
more numerous there than here. (1911.) 
At Davis, Cal., B. S. Brown reports that — 
the greatest damage is done to the almonds. They [crows] pick the nuts off 
the trees and beat them against a rock or tree until they break open. At 
this time of the year (January) they are in the old orchards picking up the 
waste nuts. (1912.) 
Concerning their depredations on peas, John H. McCluer, of 
Franklinville, X. Y., submitted the following: 
The crows first begin on peas when the new pea in the pod is fairly well 
formed, say one-quarter grown, and continue until ripe enough for canning 
purposes. They eat pods and all in the young growths, but shell the pea as 
soon as the pod toughens a little. To my personal knowledge they have so 
attacked three fields lying on different farms, but so near together that it is 
possible if not probable the work was done by the same flock of crows. (1901.) 
William L. Finley reports from Oregon that — 
in the Willamette Valley the crow does considerable damage to the cherry 
crop, but the birds are easily frightened from the trees. If unmolested they 
will soon strip a tree. (1911.) 
i Forest and Stream, LVIII, p. 285, April 12, 1902. 
2 Bull. Wilson Orn. Chap. Agassiz Association, II, No. 5, p. 12, Mar. 15, 1895. 
