10 
The Common Crow . 
“Not in early spring alone does the crow hunt for the nests of field 
mice ; he is always on the lookout for them, especially during the late spring 
and summer, when they are more likely to contain young. The crow’s habit 
of searching for food on the ground, and particularly of poking his hill into 
hunches of dead vegetation, and under the roots of grasses and weeds in 
pastures and meadows, favours the discovery of these nests. Others are 
exposed by the mower, and constitute one of the many attractions that draw 
crows to the hay field. Crow stomachs taken in July contain about four 
times as many mice as those taken in June. In meadow lands the mice and 
their nests are well hidden in June by the luxuriance of the grass, while in 
July they are exposed when the grass is cut. Besides the meadow mouse or 
vole ( Microtus ), remains of the common house mouse (Mus musculus ) were 
found in many stomachs, and in several cases, bones, teeth, and fur of the 
white-footed mouse (Peromyscus) occurred. In one instance four young 
crows from a brood of five had been fed on a jumping mouse ( Zapus 
Hudsonius .) 
“ In thickly settled districts most of the other natural enemies of mice— 
hawks, owls, foxes, skunks, and weasels—exist only in small numbers, if at 
all, and the increase and spread of the house cat only supplies their places in 
part, and that at the sacrifice of vast numbers of small birds, to which the 
cat is extremely partial. The capture of each living mouse by the crow is 
therefore an act of positive benefit to the agriculturist, and must be given 
due weight in trying to ascertain the crow’s economic status. 
“ Crows in captivity evince the greatest relish for mice; in fact it is 
doubtful if any other article of food is so attractive. Even newly caged 
crows, which refused to eat other food of any kind while watched, laid aside 
all fear when a mouse was shown them, and would crowd up to the bars and 
even take the mouse from my fingers, pecking savagely at each other in their 
eagerness to secure sole possession of the coveted titbit. This experiment 
was repeated many times and with different crows. It seemed impossible 
to gorge a crow to such an extent that he would refuse a mouse. When a 
single mouse was given to several crows the fortunate one that secured it 
was compelled to swallow it whole in order to prevent the others from 
seizing it, but he invariably disgorged it later and pulled it to pieces. Sub¬ 
sequently the hair, teeth, and some of the bones were disgorged as a pellet, 
precisely as with hawks and owls, although in some cases most of the bones 
were ground up and entirely digested. It seems probable that this is ren¬ 
dered possible by the large amount of sand or gravel habitually swallowed 
after every meal, and the great muscular power of the stomach, which is 
practically a gizzard.” 
It is when we come to consider the crow as a destroyer of insects, and 
especially of grasshoppers, that we are forced to concede that he is of very 
great benefit to man. During the last four years, I have frequently observed 
the food habits of the common Australian crow, and though my work in this 
connection has been only incidental to an examination of the internal 
parasites of the bird, yet I am able to give some interesting and useful 
statistics concerning the food found in the stomachs. 
I was much struck on one occasion, in the spring of 1894, by the immense 
amount of good done by crows in the Moss Tale District, through their 
destruction of grasshoppers. For weeks crows were very abundant through¬ 
out the vicinity mentioned. I made an effort to estimate their number, but 
am almost afraid to give the result, so high does it seem. Armed with a 
telescope, I mounted one of the highest hills, and found that in all directions 
the cleared land was about equally covered by crows. I say covered, meaning 
