. Most
of the grain sorghum is harvested by mid-October. However, the
utilization of both of these items was low in October. By October 10
only one pool was left in the creek bed under observation. The amount of
fish bones, crayfish, and snail shells in the pellets decreased during
this period.

Killing frosts occurred in mid-October. The percentage of grasshoppers
in the diet then declined rapidly and later in the autumn declined more
slowly. Nevertheless, grasshoppers and beetles remained the predominant
animal-food residues into December and frequencies of occurrence
remained relatively high.

As autumn progressed and insects became scarcer, plant material made up
an ever-larger percentage of the diet. Wheat and sorghum constituted
more than one-half of the food residues in this period. However, in
December utilization of sorghum by resident crows in eastern Harvey
County decreased. Sorghum is not an important crop in this area.

ROOSTS OF WINTERING CROWS.--The collections of pellets from roosts of
wintering crows in western Harvey County and northeastern Reno County
differed in having a higher percentage of plant material. Sorghum, corn,
and wheat predominated in early autumn, while sorghum, sunflower seed,
and corn predominated in the winter. Ants were utilized to a much
greater extent in early autumn. For grasshoppers and beetles, frequency
of occurrence was high but percentages were low. Most of the standing
water in the sand dune country had dried approximately one year before,
and the aquatic component of the diet was almost entirely lacking.

The two principal food items taken by crows in the winter of 1953 were
grain sorghum and sunflower seed. Censuses in late November and late
December, 1953, showed that feeding was mostly in harvested sorghum
fields and corn fields, but alfalfa fields, wheat fields, plowed fields,
and native pasture were also utilized.

Sorghum and sunflower seeds were also the staple foods during December,
1952. Oats and wheat showed higher percentages than in 1953, perhaps
because different foods were available in these two winters or because
of differences in locality. The pellets collected in 1952 were from
western Harvey County, whereas most of those collected in 1953 were from
northeastern Reno County.

The collection taken in February, 1954, showed a large percentage of
oats in the diet. Newly sown oat fields were probably a major source of
food at that time.

Economic an