30 BULLETIN 621, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
conditions, suffice as evidence. Since stomach analysis falls short in 
identifying such readily digested food as the tender flesh of young 
birds, effort was made to secure from reliable observers all possible 
data bearing on this phase of the crow's food habits. Remains of 
eggs also are almost certain to escape notice when none of the shell 
has been eaten, and, in the opinion of some, this factor alone dis- 
qualifies stomach analysis as a method of investigation for deter- 
mining the extent of such depredations. It must be borne in mind, 
however, that even when crows resort to " sucking " eggs, the shell 
is at least punctured and small fragments most likely reach the 
stomach. Even minute quantities of such material are readily 
identifiable and would seldom escape notice. Eggs up to the size of 
a robin's will be crushed and swallowed by the crow with almost the 
entire shell held together by the shell membrane, so that criticisms 
of this kind must be restricted to cases where larger eggs are eaten. 
Fragments of these have been found in a sufficient number of 
stomachs to indicate that crows are in no way averse to eating the 
shell of eggs, and, in fact, in many cases it appeared as if they took 
special pains to consume all they found. The writer feels confident 
that very few instances of egg eating by crows escape notice in 
stomach analysis. 
The fact that the remains of young birds rapidly disappear when 
once in the stomach of a crow, and that it is merely the shell of an 
egg that can be detected and its bulk estimated, has resulted in 
comparatively small percentages for such items. This circumstance 
has led to an erroneous impression of the extent and importance of 
the work. Here, then, is presented a case where the percentage-by- 
bulk method of estimating bird food must be strengthened by other 
means of computing the merits of a bird's diet. It is essential that we 
know the frequency with which crows will resort to such activities, 
determined by the ratio of the number of stomachs in which wild 
birds and their eggs were found to the total number examined. It is 
also of value to know the total number of birds or clutches of eggs 
eaten by a definite number of crows. This latter information is of 
greatest importance in passing judgment on the status of nestling 
crows, where often the remains of a single bird or clutch of eggs is 
passed around to all members of a brood. To determine the exact 
number of individuals contained in such a series of stomachs is at 
best a difficult task and in many instances impossible. 
Wild birds and their eggs comprised 0.32 per cent of the food 
of the 1,340 adult crows examined. July was the month of greatest 
consumption, when they formed 1.66 per cent of the food. June was 
second, with 0.90, and May third, with 0.70 per cent. In no other 
month did such food amount to as much as one-fourth of 1 per cent, 
August and October being wholly unrepresented. Wild birds were 
