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food supply in its southern stations as to summer conditions within our 
borders. Food in summer on our prairies was probably always sufficient 
for many more Crows than originally occupied them, but their numbers 
were controlled by the scantiness of the winter supply. Nowadays, with 
much of the great southern interior under cultivation, undoubtedly many 
more can find support through the winter and return in the spring. As 
far as the Crow is concerned, the primitive “balance of nature" has been 
profoundly and irrevocably changed in its favour, and it has increased 
abnormally. A policy of non-interference, as is advocated by many nature 
lovers, would, of course, eventually permit a new balance being established, 
but it would not be the original one and under it the Crow would be more 
secure than under primitive conditions. It is for us to consider whether 
such a consummation is desirable. 
Economic Status. The economic status of the Crow is a much argued 
question. Sentimental enthusiasts and some cautious agricultural inves- 
tigators regard it as a valuable species. Others, perhaps equally prejudiced 
in the opposite direction, refuse to admit any good in the black robber. 
The actual fact probably lies within these extremes. In 1895 a study of 
the “American Crow in Relation to Agriculture", by W. B. Barrows and E. 
A. Swarz, was published as Bulletin No. 6 of the United States Department 
of Agriculture. It was a brochure of nearly one hundred pages, based on 
almost a thousand stomach examinations and on testimonies from all over 
North America. Again in 1918, the subject was rediscussed in “The Crow 
in Its Relation to Man,” by E. R. Kalmbach, Bulletin No. 621 of the same 
Department. The new findings were based on 2,118 stomachs, much new 
field work, and the replies from some 3,000 letters of inquiry. The results 
of the two investigations do Dot differ materially, but the latter author 
gives a very guarded approval of the Crow. The insect food throughout 
the year is given as 18*97 per cent of the whole, grasshoppers and May 
beetles being prominently represented, especially during certain months. 
Carrion and animal matter, 9 • 15 per cent; grain, mostly Indian corn, 51 • 12 
per cent; fruit, mostly wild, 17*70 per cent; and weed seed and rubbish, 
3 * 06 per cent. In the east, the Crow is condemned mostly as a grain eater; 
in the west, complaints of this nature are few and in any event, Indian 
corn is not an important crop there. It is notable that much of the “other 
grain” is taken in early spring months when it is obviously waste. On 
the other hand, from May until the end of August, the Crow makes a striking 
record as an insect consumer. During these months, insects average 36 
per cent of its food, of which, during August and September, grasshoppers 
constitute 19 per cent, and in May, May beetles, over 10 per cent of the 
total. Nineteen per cent of the food of so large and common a species as the 
Crow is an important economic item. When it is noted that these figures are 
for the average of North America and mostly where grasshoppers are but 
incidental and not unduly numerous, it is evident that the benefit that may 
be derived from the species is well worth considering. Undoubtedly, the 
Crow’s worst enemies will admit that, where grasshoppers occur in pestilen- 
tial numbers, the Crow subsists upon them almost entirely. The writer 
has seen the ground under Crow stations covered with the ejected pellets 
composed entirely of the horny, undigestible parts of grasshoppers. No 
less convincing an observer than Mr. Norman Criddle of Aweme, Manitoba, 
studying the grasshopper pest for the Entomological Branch of the Domin- 
ion Government, cites cases where land protected by numerous Crows 
