64 BULLETIN 621, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
A brood of four secured in Michigan illustrates this point. Not- 
withstanding the fact that frog remains occurred in the stomach of 
each and averaged over 50 per cent of the food there was no evi- 
dence that more than two individuals had been eaten. Each of 
another brood of five collected in Vermont also had frog remains in 
its stomach and, as the average portion for the lot was only 18 per 
cent of the stomach contents, one frog may well have furnished the 
food for all. Two half -grown young, also from Vermont, had eaten 
a toad, frog, and salamander between them, which constituted 51 per 
cent of their diet. Another week-old hatch of three from the same 
place also had the remains of probably one frog shared among them. 
Five young secured in Dallas County, Mo., had all fed on frogs and 
toads, probably three or four individuals being eaten. Each of five 
others from the same place had fed on amphibians, a salamander and 
more than one frog being identified. In one instance, where even 
the skin of a freshly eaten specimen was still present in the stomach, 
the frog remains formed as much as 83 per cent of the food. 
WILD BIRDS AND THEIR EGGS. 
The remains of wild birds and their eggs formed 1.57 per cent 
of the food of nestling crows. Birds were found in 53 of the 778 
stomachs, but in four cases the material could not be distinguished 
from the remains of poultry. Eggs of wild birds were present in 20 
stomachs. In two instances the remains of both a wild bird and eggs 
were found in the same stomach, so the total record of such car- 
nivorous habits, on the part of nestling crows amounts to 71 out of 
778 stomachs, an average of about 1 in 11. This ratio, when com- 
pared with 1 in 28J for the adult, probably closely represents the 
relative activity of old and young in the destruction of bird life. 
As in the consumption of other vertebrate remains, crows fre- 
quently feed parts of the same individual to more than one nestling, 
which results in duplication when a count is made of the number of 
stomachs in which certain items are found. A brood of 4 or 5 may 
each have fed on the body of a nestling robin, yet only one act of 
vandalism on the part of the parent supplied the food. Although 
71 young crows had partaken of wild birds or their eggs, only 44 
broods were involved. While in a few instances more than one bird 
or clutch of eggs may have been present in the stomachs of one brood, 
the habit of passing around parts of the same individual seemed to 
be common. It is apparent, then, that the ratio of 71 to 778 is an 
ample one and that it may be reduced even more than has been indi- 
cated when it is considered that in several cases the parents of the 
broods also had shared with their young parts of the same food. 
Each one of a brood of four collected in Kansas had been fed on 
what appeared to be a song sparrow, and two of the four stomachs 
