Some Common Birds Useful to the Farmer (1915 edition)Beal, F. E. L. (Foster Ellenborough Lascelles)
Science
Some Common Birds Useful to the Farmer (1915 edition)
Beal, F. E. L. (Foster Ellenborough Lascelles)
Birds -- United States
In the other animal food of the crow are several items of the utmost
economic importance. Spiders are taken in considerable numbers in May
and June, but the yearly total is a little over 1 per cent of the
food. In early spring crawfish are eagerly sought, and other aquatic
food as fish and mollusks lend variety to the crow’s bill of fare the
year round. In the consumption of toads, salamanders, frogs, and some
snakes, which together compose a little over 2 per cent of the yearly
food, the crow is doubtless doing harm. Small rodents occurred in the
stomachs collected nearly every month, but it is often difficult to
determine whether small mammals found in birds’ stomachs were taken
alive or found dead.
From its carrion-eating habits the crow has been unfairly criticized as
a disseminator of live-stock diseases. While this may be to some extent
just, the fact that there are many other important carriers which lie
largely beyond our control, shows that we must seek final relief only
through the strictest methods of sanitation.
The nest-robbing habit of the crow, long a serious criticism, is
verified by stomach analysis. Fifty of the 1,103 crows examined had fed
on wild birds or their eggs, and the eggs of domestic fowls were found
slightly more frequently. The crow’s habit of rummaging about garbage
piles may explain much of this latter material.
Of the vegetable food, corn, which is eaten every month, is the most
important item and forms about a third of the yearly diet. Much of
this, however, must be considered waste. Over 60 per cent is consumed
from the first of November to the end of March. During the periods when
corn is sprouting and when in the “roasting-ear” stage the crow is
eating this grain at a rate considerably less than the yearly average,
and the months of smallest consumption are July and August. At times,
however, the damage to corn becomes a serious problem, and were it not
possible to make use of such deterrents as coal tar upon seed corn
there would be little friendship for the crow in some sections of the
East. The “pulling” of corn is a trait most prevalent in small-field
areas. Wheat and oats suffer similar damage at times, especially in the
Northwestern States, where these grains predominate. About the only
safeguard to ripening grain is the constant use of powder and shot or
the scarecrow.
Various kinds of cultivated fruits also are eaten, and local damage
to such crops as apples, melons, peas, beans, peanuts, and almonds is
occasionally reported. In long, rigorous winters, the crow, like other
birds, resorts to the fruit of numerous wild plants, as dogwood, sour
gum, hackberry, smilax, and the several species of sumac and poison ivy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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