378 
BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA 
From D. E. Pannepacker, Chalfont, Pa.: 
A field of corn is adjacent to my school-house. On the 13th of May the corn was planted, ami 
on the 22d of May I first noticed the tender shoots above the ground. The field previous to the 
cultivation was covered with a thick growth of sod, favorable to the existence of the grub and 
wire-worm. It was but natural, too, for these insects to remain, and not having the tender shoots 
of timothy, clover, and other grasses to satisfy their appetites, they turned their attention to 
the growing corn. The despised crow here rendered most excellent service, for though he 
pulled up-the corn, I noticed each time the well known track of the wire-worm, or the worn path 
of the grub. 
When the seventeen-year cicada appeared this summer (1885) the crow fed extensively on both 
its pupa? and imagoes. The young were fed to some extent on the pupae on May 30. As they 
had not at this time appeared above the ground, I suppose the crows obtained them in plowed 
fields.— {M. J. Perry Moore , Phila ., Pa.) 
The Crow an Enemy to Grasshoppers. 
Probably the most marked example of the good which crows do by destroying 
insects is found in their attacks on grasshoppers, crickets, and kindred insects. 
Eighty observers report the crow as feeding extensively on grasshoppers, and there 
can be no doubt that much good is done in this way. The following examples 
show something of the extent of the benefit occasionally done. 
From A. I. Johnson, Hydeville, Vt.: 
Crows have some very good qualities, catching countless numbers of crickets and grasshop¬ 
pers after the hay is cut. They can be seen at almost any time of day on the meadows catching 
grasshoppers. I observed one pair of old crows this summer (1885) when I was haying, that were 
feeding their young almost entirely (if not quite) on grasshoppers; the old crows would alight 
on the mown land within eight or ten rods of me, and after catching a hopper or two would fly 
to their young that were on the fence and there feed them with the hoppers. 
From W. E. Saunders, London, Ontario, Canada: 
Last summer (1885) I watched a flock of probably two thousand crows catching grasshoppers. 
From J. B. Underhill, Fork Union, Va. : 
As to the insect diet of the adult I cannot testify, having never examined the gizzards. The 
gizzards of two young which were taken from the nest were filled to overflowing with grass¬ 
hoppers, and each contained one or two kernels of corn. 
From Morris M. Green, Boonville, N. Y. : 
Near Boonville I have seen the common crow feeding on grasshoppers during the summer 
months. Some fields seemed to be fairly black with the birds pursuing the grasshoppers in 
every direction. One day noticing a flock of crows frequenting a particular field, I visited the 
place, and found that the roots of the grass had been completely eaten away, so that the sod or 
turf could be taken by tne hand and rolled up like a rug or carpet. A farmer living in the 
vicinity told me that the crows visited the place every day to feed upon the grubs that destroyed 
the turf in this way. The grubs or larva? were about three-fourths of an inch in length ; body 
whitish, with some dull plumbeous underneath ; head blackish. 
The Insect Food of the Crow as Revealed by Examination of 
Stomachs. 
Among the eighty-six stomachs of the Common Crow examined, sixty-three were 
found to contain insect remains, and these remains were submitted to the entomol¬ 
ogist of the department, Prof. C. V. Riley, who caused a critical study of them to be 
made, and has in preparation a full report, showing the number and kinds of insects 
represented in each stomach, with notes as to their habits and economic importance. 
A brief summary of the more important facts brought out by this investigation is 
given herewith. It has been prepared by the writer from a preliminary report to 
the entomologist by Tyler Townsend, assistant, who, with the aid of the other 
members of the entomological force, made most of the determinations. The full re¬ 
port will appear in a bulletin on the crow, which is now in preparation in the orni¬ 
thological division. 
The stomachs examined contained the remains of about ninety-two species of 
true insects, represented by about five hundred specimens. About ten per cent, of 
these cannot be classed properly as either beneficial or injurious, and the remainder 
