THE CKOW AND ITS RELATION" TO MAN. 61 
four stomachs of another brood 2 days old, but owing to the ad- 
vanced stage of digestion, their number could be estimated in only 
one. This stomach contained 60. In comparatively few cases, 
though, did caterpillars constitute a large portion of the bulk of the 
food. One newly hatched nestling had eaten 20, which completely 
filled its stomach. Another, nearly ready to leave the nest, had its 
stomach 97 per cent full of the skins and finely-chewed vegetable 
food of two large caterpillars. A brood of three had subsisted on 
caterpillars to the extent of 87, 60, and 47 per cent, respectively, of 
their diet. In six other instances these insects made up over 60 per 
cent of the food. As in the case of the adult crows, cutworms 
(Noctuidse) were found most frequently. The silken cocoons and 
pupae of some of the larger moths are not uncommon ingredients of 
the food. In the stomach of one nestling 110 lepidopterous eggs 
were found. 
Herrvip t era. 
Bugs of various kinds constituted 2.61 per cent of the food of 
these young birds, approximately three times the quantity taken by 
the parents. Of the true bugs (Heteroptera) the nestlings' share is 
essentially the same as that of the adults. In choice of forms eaten 
their taste is quite similar (see p. 23). Stinkbugs (Pentatomidse) are 
the ones most often found, but in no case were they taken in large 
numbers. Among the Homoptera, one species, the periodical cicada, 
or seventeen-year locust {Tibicen septendecim) , stands out promi- 
nently. The series of 157 nestlings secured at Onaga, Kans., in 1913, 
were collected just prior to the emergence of a brood of these odd 
insects. This brood, designated as Number IV, 1 was common in the 
area in which this material was secured, its range covering eastern 
Kansas and western Iowa and Missouri. Sixty-eight of the 157 
young crows secured at this place in 1913 had fed on cicadas, nearly 
all of which were probably the periodical form, though' accurate 
identification was impossible in many cases, as the insect was eaten 
in the pupal stage, and digestion soon obliterated important char- 
acters. A brood of 7 partly feathered crows had been fed on no 
less than 168 of these pupse, one individual taking as many as 19. 
One from another brood had eaten 41. A series of 9, probably 2 
broods, made away with 200. Eight other nestlings had devoured 
over 10 apiece. That these insects at times comprise a substantial 
part of the volume of food eaten is shown by 20 young (4 broods) , 
which had subsisted on them to the extent of 31.3 per cent of their 
food. Each one had fed on cicadas and in one case they comprised 
60 per cent of the stomach contents. 
iMarlatt, C. L.. The Periodical Cicada : Bull. 71, Bur. Ent., U. S. Dept. Agr., p. 43, 1907. 
