ranging from 57 per cent (Barrows and Schwarz, 1895:72) to 71.86 per cent (Kalmbach, 1918:43). The percentage of plant material was highest in the winter. In one collection from a wintering crow roost it amounted to 99.5 per cent. In December in eastern Harvey County it averaged only 85.3 per cent. The lowest percentage (20) was found in the first half of October in eastern Harvey County when grasshoppers amounted to more than half the diet. At this same time pellets collected from the wintering roosts contained 72.4 per cent plant material.

Wheat is the "staff-of-life" of the crows in south-central Kansas and the percentage recorded in the diet in my study is much higher than the percentages found by other investigators. Wheat, being the principal crop in this area, was a readily available food. The fluctuations in the use of wheat were due to fluctuations in the availability of other foods that were preferred. In eastern Harvey County wheat consumption was 35.7 per cent of the diet in the latter part of July, and 49.1 per cent in December.

Consumption of wheat was high (34.4 per cent) during the harvest in June. However, this does not indicate serious damage since the crow population at this time was low, and much of the wheat eaten probably was shattered waste grain. When plowing began, wheat consumption was much reduced. At the time wheat was sown, September 10 to October 15, consumption was average to low.

In western Harvey County wheat was less important in the diet of wintering crows. After reaching a peak (22.7 per cent) in October, just after sowing, it steadily decreased, varying from 6.9 per cent to none in December.

The wheat consumption of crows has little significance economically. No instances of damage were reported to me either at the time of harvest or at the time of sowing. Although crows undoubtedly do eat wheat from newly sown fields, this utilization seldom damages the stand. No evidence of pulling young wheat was found. Most wheat eaten was waste grain.

Grain sorghum was the staple food of the wintering crows. In eastern Harvey County, where sorghum is not an important crop, its consumption began in August, reached a peak in the last part of November, and fell off sharply in December. The grain sorghum crop is vulnerable to damage by crows and it is ripening in the autumn as the crow population is building up. In certain areas and certain years the loss may be important. An exceptional instance was reported to me of crows taking 40 per cent of the crop from a small field of early ripening sorghum near a roost. Most farmers and county agents interviewed thought that the over-all damage was not great. The crop is usually combined and little remains in the fields after October, when the majority of wintering crows arrive. Nevertheless, even waste grain picked up after harvest should be counted as a loss on some farms where stock are turned in to clean up such grain.

Oats were taken sparingly as waste grain in summer, autumn, and winter, and most were eaten in late winter and early spring from newly sown fields (37.2 per cent of the February diet and 72.6 per cent of the April diet). These percentages were probably high, since there is a high proportion of indigestible residues in oats. This is more than compensated for in the yearly average by the paucity of collections made in the period when consumption of oats was highest.

Fields newly sown to oats provided a major supply of food in the early spring when other food supplies had been depleted. However, no instance of damage to a stand of oats was reported to me. Aldous (1944:294) mentioned that crows fed on spring-sown oat fields in Oklahoma but suggested that they picked up only grain which was not covered.

Sunflower seeds, although not important as a food of the crows in eastern Harvey County, were a staple food of these wintering in the western part of the study area. Consumption of sunflower seeds began in September. In the latter part of December the percentage increased and many pellets were composed entirely of sunflower seed hulls. Sunflower seeds have a high percentage of indigestible residue.

In both popular accounts and scientific studies, the economic significance of the consumption of weed seeds such as those of sunflowers by birds often has been interpreted in an oversimplified manner. It has been assumed that if crows eat several million sunflower seeds in the winter, the sunflowers growing in the farmers' fields the next year will have been reduced by the same number. However, like most annual plants, sunflowers produce a great surplus of seeds each year. Most of the seeds consumed by crows would never have a chance to grow to maturity, even if they were not eaten. Therefore this component of the crow's diet is only slightly beneficial or neutral for the farmer. The effect of crows (or of the entire bird population for that matter) upon the sunflower crop in the farmers' fields is probably slight.

Corn is one of the preferred foods of crows, but little corn was grown in the study area. Other investigators have found higher percentages elsewhere. In eastern Harvey County corn reached its highest point in December but was insignificant in the diet. In the western part of the study area it made up a larger percentage of the diet of wintering crows. The corn eaten early in the season was undoubtedly from the standing crop. However, most of that picked up in late autumn and in winter was waste grain. Since little corn was shocked and left in the fields, there was less opportunity for damage. The amount of corn pulling at planting time was not determined, since no pellets were collected then. However, the population of crows at that time was low. I received no complaints of such damage to corn nor of significant damage to the corn crop at other seasons.

There were pastures of brome grass in the area under study in eastern Harvey County, and the seeds seemed to be a preferred food, constituting a major food supply for the crows in the latter part of July and the first part of August. Having a high content of indigestible residues they probably showed up in the pellets in percentages out of proportion to their importance in the diet. They were unimportant in the diet of wintering crows in the western part of the study area. This component of brome grass in the diet was economically of little significance in the study area, although it could be of significance where brome grass seed was being harvested.

Cherries were recorded only in June and only from one family of crows in eastern Harvey County; cherry orchards are few in this area. The damage done by the crows in the cherry orchard was slight, since only a few crows fed there.

Weed seeds such as those of spurges (Euphorbia), ragweed, and pigweed were found in trace amounts in the diet of the crows. However, they were not preferred foods, since they were available in large quantities.

Wild fruits such as grape and pokeberry also showed up in trace amounts. Elsewhere, investigators have found wild fruit forming a major source of food in winter. However, it was not readily available in this area.

Plant fibers and seeds unidentifiable with the resources at hand formed 2.2 per cent of the residues.

It was reported to me that crows caused damage to watermelons which are