288 
Judd, Food of the English Sparrow and Crow. 
TAuk 
LOct. 
and harmless sumach. The Crow takes a large proportion of 
corn during the winter, and may often be seen in large flocks 
visiting corn stacks. The quantity of insects eaten during the 
winter is small, for the Crow during the cold weather subsists 
principally upon vegetable matter. 
Ileing anxious to learn how Crows glean a living when the ground 
is snow -covered, I went to Arlington, Va., on the 15 th of last 
December. A flock of fifteen Crows was on the ground at the 
edge of the wood on the south side of a hill, where the snow had 
melted enough to leave bare spots as large as saucers. The dusky 
fellows were busily overturning leaves, and picking up something. 
They arose as I came quite near, and the several that cawed were 
Common Crows ( Corvus americanus) . The ground where the 
birds had been looked as though it had been raked. Beside 
turning over the leaves, the Crows had picked into the earth. 
Upon turning over some leaves that had not been disturbed, I 
found berries of dogwood and sour-gum, and living insects. The 
berries at this time of year do not hang on the trees. Although 
no insects were found where the Crows had searched, under sev- 
eral leaves that had not been disturbed I found several spiders 
( Drossus ), leaf-hoppers (. Proconia ), ants ( Camfo?iotus malleus ), a 
ladybird ( Coccmella g-pwictata ), a harlequin cabbage bug ( Murgantia 
histronica ), and several smaller bugs. If the Crow were less wary 
it would be much easier to learn how it obtains insect food in 
winter. This same day I saw dozens of Crows in red cedar trees 
feeding upon the berries. 
On March 15 I had another opportunity of seeing how Crows 
find food when the ground is covered with snow. On the south- 
ern side of the Washington ‘Zoo,’ which is a picturesque depression 
among rugged hills, was a field with several snow capped manure 
heaps v\ hich the crows had been making tracks about. In many 
places the snow, which was two inches deep, had been brushed 
away, and a shallow excavation dug in the frozen manure. Here 
apparently the only food was a large number of plump oat seeds 
which were filled with a soft white mass. I hope next winter to 
watch Crows at meal times when the ground is covered with a foot 
or more of snow. 
There is much to be done in the study of the feeding habits 
