The Common Crow. 
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that every paddock, nearly, contained one or more large flocks, varying in 
size from a few dozen to upwards of a thousand; and I may here remark 
that a thousand crows do not make a great show, especially when feeding 
on the ground, which is about the only occasion on which one can make any¬ 
thing approaching an accurate estimate of their numbers. From what I 
could see, I estimated that the 
Moss Yale District at that time 
was supporting not less than a 
quarter of a million crows; in fact, 
it is my belief that the actual 
number "was much greater than 
this estimate. 
For several weeks these crows 
were feeding almost exclusively on 
grasshoppers from half an inch to 
an inch long. From numerous 
counts I am satisfied that the 
average number of grasshoppers in 
each stomach examined by me was 
very little, if any, short of 100. 
How many times a day the stomach 
was filled is a matter for conjecture, 
but as early in the morning the 
stomachs were always empty, or 
nearly so, there can be no doubt 
that it was at least once a day, and 
I have no hesitation in saying, nor 
would anyone who saw them feed¬ 
ing, have any hesitation in saying, 
that twice a day would be a moderate 
estimate. We thus arrive at the 
conclusion that each crow was &■ 
devouring two hundred grass¬ 
hoppers per day. Even one hun¬ 
dred per day gives for all the crows 
in the district a total of twenty-five 
million grasshoppers per day, and 
as this lasted for about a month, we 
may put the total destruction of 
grasshoppers at about seven hun¬ 
dred and fifty millions. This num¬ 
ber is almost impossible of com¬ 
prehension, and it will, therefore, 
be better to reduce it to pounds or 
tons. If we say that each grass¬ 
hopper weighed only two grains, 
which is a very low estimate, the 
total weight of seven hundred and 
fifty million grasshoppers is about one hundred tons, 
fails to give a clear idea of the good done by the crows, I will now proceed 
to show. 
As anyone knows who has made the necessary dissection, the stomach of 
a grasshopper is relatively large, in truth the mere voracity of the insect is 
a sufficient testimony to this fact. Probably the contents of the stomach 
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That even this figure 
