THE CROW AND ITS RELATION TO MAN. 57 
Animal Food. 
insects. 
Animal food comprised 83.49 per cent of the diet of the nestling 
crows examined, insects forming the major portion, 48.36 per cent. 
Nearly half of this, 23.93 per cent, was composed of beetles, slightly 
less than the corresponding percentage in the diet of adults during 
May. 
Coleoptera. 
Scarab^im:. — Scarabaeid beetles, most of which were May beetles 
{Phyllophaga) were the most important coleopterous remains found 
in the nestlings' stomachs. In bulk these beetles and their larvae, 
white grubs, formed 17.44 per cent of the food, about 3 per cent 
less than in the diet of the adults during the same period. While 
both in percentage of food and number of individuals eaten the 
adult crow consumes more May beetles than its young, the impor- 
tance of such food eaten by the latter must not be overlooked. 
For instance, each one of a brood of three nestlings collected in Wis- 
consin had been fed entirely on these insects. Five young taken in 
the District of Columbia had subsisted to the extent of nearly three- 
fourths of their food on adult May beetles, an aggregate of about 
70 individuals being consumed by the brood. Another hatch of 
three secured in Maryland had fed on them to an extent of 84, 98, 
and 80 per cent, respectively, of their food. Stomachs collected at 
Onaga, Kans., in May of 1913 and 1914, revealed the remains of 
these beetles and their larvae in remarkably large numbers. A series 
(three broods) of 12 nestlings, three-fourths grown, had eaten a 
total of 301, an average of over 25 apiece, along with several 
Euphoria, Phanceus, Canthon, Geotmpes, and other scarabaeids. 
One of these had eaten 53, the highest number of May beetles re- 
corded for a young crow. Another group of 17 (four broods) had 
destroyed 344, an average of over 20 apiece. Six others (two 
broods) had made away with 135 beetles. Of a total of 359 stomachs 
of nestling crows collected at Onaga, Kans., in 1913 and 1914, 285 
contained remains of May beetles or their larvae. The 64 beetles 
eaten by a brood of three secured in Dallas County, Mo., are inter- 
esting in that they include no less than nine distinct species. Of the 
larvae (white grubs), young crows eat a much larger proportion than 
do the parent birds, but in no case did the numbers eaten equal those 
of the adult beetles consumed. A brood of three partly feathered 
young secured in Kansas had eaten 34, 28, and 23 white grubs, 
respectively, two others had taken more than 20 apiece and six 
others more than 10 apiece. 
Other phytophagous scarabaeids similar to those eaten by the 
adults are also fed to the young (see p. 13). Euphorias were found 
