94 
NATURE NOTES. 
THE AMERICAN CROW.- 
HE “ rook question ” has agitated the agricultural and 
ornithological mind in England for generations ; and 
amateurs have done their best to come to the truth of 
the whole matter, without much success in inducing 
a general acceptance of facts. They could hardly expect much, 
having little weight of proof at their backs. Of help from 
Government they have had none. The British Government has 
never done much to meet the minor w'ants of country people, 
although (helped by the County Councils) it has lately taken 
to wasting money by sending (often raw and imperfectly equipped) 
lecturers into the villages. 
In the States this sort of thing, at all events, is managed 
better. The Government Department of Agriculture takes up 
these questions and goes into them on a scale of magnitude 
which would be impossible on the part of amateurs. It has 
just investigated, and finally settled, the crow question of the 
United States. The crow of that country (Corvus americanus), 
is a different species from our rook, although the charges made 
against it are very much the same ; it is therefore unnecessary 
to give even a resume of the details of this admirable and 
voluminous report. It will suffice to quote a few statements 
from Mr. Merriam’s Letter of Transmittal to the Assistant 
Secretary of Agriculture. The report is based on the examina- 
tion of nearly a thousand crows’ stomachs. After stating that 
all the most important charges brought against the crow — 
four in number — are sustained by the stomach examination, 
Mr. Merriam goes on to say that the extent of the injury is 
a very different matter. He writes ; — “ Leaving the young out 
of consideration, it may be said that in agricultural districts, 
about one-fourth of the food of crows consists of corn. But 
less than 14 per cent, of this corn, and only 3 per cent, of the 
total food of the crow, consists of sprouting corn and corn in 
the milk ; the remaining 86 per cent, of the corn is 
chiefly waste grain picked up here and there, mainly in winter, 
and of no economic value. In the case of cultivated fruits the 
loss is trivial. The same is true of the eggs and young of 
poultry and wild birds, the total for the year amounting to only 
I per cent, of the food. As an offset to his bad habits 
insects form 26 per cent, of the entire food, and the great majority 
of these are grasshoppers. May beetles, cut worms, and other 
injurious kinds To the same side of the scale must be 
added the destruction of mice, rabbits, and other injurious 
* The Common Crow of the United States. By Walter B. Barrows and E. 
A. .Schwarz. Bulletin No. 6, U..S. Dei>artmcnt of Agriculture, Division of 
Ornithology and Mannnalogy. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1895, 
pp. 98, large 8vo, plate and 2 text figures. 
