THE CROW AND ITS RELATION TO MAN. 59 
one of which had fed on these insects, a total of 62 weevils having 
been eaten by the brood. 
Other beetles. — Other beetles fed to nestling crows belong 
mainly to the necrophagous and coprophagous families Silphidge, 
Staphylinidse, and Histeridse. The proportion of these insects eaten 
is essentially the same as in the food of adults. No instance of ex- 
tremely large numbers eaten was recorded. Click beetles (Elateridae) 
and their larvae, wireworms, form only a small portion of the nest- 
ling's food, about a third of 1 per cent, and in no stomach were re- 
markable numbers noted, an odd circumstance in view of the fav- 
orable reports made by competent field observers regarding the 
crow's effectiveness as an enemy of these pests. 
Orthoptera. 
In the destruction of grasshoppers, nestling crows render man a 
most important service. Although the birds are reared prior to the 
season when these insects are most abundant a vast number of the 
nymphal forms fall as their prey. More than 14.5 per cent of the 
food of those examined consisted of orthopterous remains — a re- 
markable proportion when it is considered that adult crows at the 
height of the grasshopper season in August and September take only 
a little over 19 per cent, and during the nestling period (May) only 
4.29 per cent. It is highly probable, though, that this percentage for 
nestling crows is somewhat exaggerated because of the large numbers 
collected in Kansas and Missouri. On the other hand, no nestling 
material is available from the extreme Northwest, an area in which 
adult crows feed extensively upon these insects. Nestling crows in 
that region no doubt are fed largely upon Orthoptera. 
By far the largest portion of orthopterous food of young crows 
consists of short-horned grasshoppers (Acrididse). These were pres- 
ent in 528 of the 778 stomachs examined, and in many exceedingly 
large numbers were recorded. When it is considered, however, that 
the number of grasshoppers eaten is determined by counting the 
jaws present, and that these undigested parts are in many cases accu- 
mulated from past meals, the large numbers recorded are partially 
explained. 
The most noteworthy work of grasshopper destruction revealed in 
the examination of stomachs of nestling crows was that of a brood of 
four secured at Onaga, Kans. These had eaten 133, 106, 105, and 74, 
respectively, a total of 418, which constituted three-fourths of the 
food. Another brood of seven had consumed a still greater number, 
585, but they averaged only about 83-| for each bird and formed a 
little less than 70 per cent of the stomach contents. One of these 
nestlings had eaten 143, the highest number recorded for a single 
