12 
The Common Crow . 
constitute more than one-tenth the entire weight of the insect. Allowing, 
then, that he fills his stomach twice a day, the grasshopper will consume his 
own weight in five days at the outside. Allowing his weight to be one, two, 
and four grains for the first ,second, and third month of his life respectively, 
he will consume, in three months, forty-two grains of food. On this moderate 
basis, the seven hundred and fifty million grasshoppers, if not killed by the 
crows, would have consumed over two thousand tons of grass and other fodder. 
In other words, during the single month I have mentioned, the crows 
saved thousands of tons of grass and other produce to the inhabitants of 
Moss Yale through the destruction of grasshoppers. Surely, .in the light of 
these facts, we may well spare a few sheep and chickens without complaining. 
This is not an isolated case; on the contrary, something similar is of 
annual occurrence in various parts of the country. Wherever grasshoppers 
become unusually numerous, crows soon congregate to fatten on this their 
favourite food. A noticeable feature of the locust plague in the western 
and north-western parts of New South Wales in 1891 was the presence, in 
parts of the infested districts, of large flocks of these black police. Even 
in seasons when grasshoppers are only ordinarily numerous, their number is 
much reduced by the crow, and the good done in this way should not be 
overlooked. 
Early in the season, before the appearance of grasshoppers, particularly 
during ploughing time, the crow does the farmer another good turn, for he 
may very often be seen following the plough for hours at a stretch, busily 
picking up grubs that would otherwise remain to injure the following crop. 
Both white grubs and cutworms are cleared oft in large numbers by this means. 
It is only necessary to imagine what would happen if the grasshoppers 
and cutworms were not kept in check in such a case as that at Moss Yale in 
1894 to realise the debt we owe to the crow T . Suppose, for instance, the 
crows to have been all killed oft on that occasion, and the insects to have 
been given full swung. Soon there would have been bare paddocks, half- 
starving stock, desolated gardens, and possibly a dearth of fruit; for there is 
hardly anything in the way of crops the grasshopper will not eat, and when 
driven for food, he does not despise even such articles as wood and cloth. 
Indeed, it is not necessary to suppose such a case, for something of the sort 
has actually occurred. Previous to the year 1750, in consequence of the 
premiums paid for killing crows and blackbirds in the colony of Massachusetts, 
these birds became so nearly extirpated that they were rarely to be seen, and 
the traveller Kalm wrote :— 
“ But as, in the summer of the year 1749, an immense quantity of worms 
appeared on the meadows, which devoured the grass and did great damage, 
the people have abated their enmity against the maize thieves, for they 
thought they had observed that those birds lived chiefly on these worms 
before the maize is ripe, and consequently extirpated them, or at least pre¬ 
vented their spreading too much.” 
Here, at least, is a case of widespread belief among an intelligent people 
that the worms and so forth, that destroy grass, were so greatly increased in 
consequence of the extirpation of crows and birds of similar habits that the 
hay crop was ruined ; and it may be added that recent investigations tend 
to show that the opinion was entirely correct. 
It must not be concluded that because I have given such prominence to 
the destruction of the grasshopper, the white grub, and the cutworm by 
crows that they destroy these insects only. Dung-beetles are eaten by them, 
as well as “ June-bugs,” weevils, ants, borer-beetles, click-beetles, and 
crickets, all of which are more or less injurious. 
