Bird Study

ISSN: 0006-3657 (Print) 1944-6705 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tbis20

A comparative study of the food of some British

Corvidae

David Holyoak

To cite this article: David Holyoak (1968) A comparative study of the food of some British
Corvidae, Bird Study, 15:3, 147-153, DOI: 10.1080/00063656809476194

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00063656809476194

Published online: 19 Jun 2009.

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 A comparative study of the food of some
British Corvidae
by David Holyoak
British Trust for Ornithology

N o DETAILED STUDY of the food of Carrion Crows Corvus

corone, Magpies Pica pica or Jays Garrulus glandarius in Britain
has been published since the work of Collinge (1924), except for
details of 21 Crow gizzard contents given in Lockie (1956) and a
study of the food of nestlings by Owen (1956). Collinge's analyses
ignored seasonal variations in the diet and appear to be inaccurate
in other ways. Several analyses of Rook Corvus frugilegus and
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Jackdaw C. monedula gizzard contents have been made besides

those by Collinge, including those of Campbell (1936) and Lockie
(1956) in Britain and a number of studies on the continent, e.g.
Madon (1928summarising other studies), Kluijver (1945), Hell &
Sovis (1958), Pivar (1966), Folk & Tougkov (1966), Folk (1967).
Holyoak (1967) discusses the food and feeding behaviour of
Choughs Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax from field observations and Rat-
cliffe (1963) summarises the available data on the food of Ravens
Corvus corax.
METHODS
This paper describes the results of gizzard analyses of 234 Carrion
Crows, 264 Rooks, 222 Jackdaws, 77 Magpies and 74 Jays. Data
for some of the Rooks and Jackdaws are from Lockie (1956), and
a small number of careful analyses of Magpie and Jay gizzards
made by Mr. Tony Rose on a Suffolk estate are included. The rest
were obtained in reply to requests published in several shooting
and country newspapers and in the Annual Report of the Game
Research Association; others were obtained by a reliable keeper
and from birds shot by the author. These birds came from a
number of localities in lowland England and Wales, all in farming
areas.
Van Koersveld (1951) found that digestion in Jackdaw gizzards
continues for some time after death, making the detection of insect
remains difficult after a few days. Errors due to this cause in the
present study were however considered to be small as a careful
search for undigested sclerotised parts (e.g. heads of larvae) was
made and pieces of grit were examined under a binocular dissect-
ing microscope for the presence of earthworm chaetae. Furthermore,
the results for Rooks and Jackdaws were similar to those obtained
by Lockie who opened some gizzards immediately after shooting.
As different food items are digested at different rates it is un-
realistic to give volumetric or gravimetric estimates of the amounts
of different foods taken. Following Lockie (1956) the results are
therefore expressed in terms of the frequency of occurrence of
different items (Tables II-VI).
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 BIRD STUDY

SOURCES OF ERROR
Despite the precautions mentioned above there are still several
ways in which the results are open to error. First, hard objects
such as bones are often retained in the gizzard for long periods
with the grit. Hairs and earthworm chaetae may also be retained
amongst the grit, but probably infrequently as both were usually
present in some quantity when found at all.
A further bias in the method of presenting the results is that
foods that were regularly present in very small quantity, such as
snails, appear to be as important as other foods which were taken
in greater quantity. Thus the method used will tend to mask specific
preferences and seasonal differences.
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RESULTS
All of the British corvids except the Chough have very varied diets.
The diet of each species is summarised in Table I, based on the
literature and on the results of the present investigation. Tables
II-VI give the results of the present investigation in more detail,
supplemented by data from Lockie (1956).
Grain is an important food of Crows, Rooks, Jackdaws and
Magpies. It is taken at all times of the year but most abundantly
in autumn and winter, in the autumn usually from stubbles but
in the late winter and spring mainly from sowings. A little is taken
from standing crops in the late summer and from animal food
troughs at all times of the year. Other farm crops such as peas and
beans are taken by Rooks and Jackdaws in the autumn and winter
and potatoes and root crops are attacked by these and Crows during
hard weather in winter. Weed seeds from arable land (especially
Polygonum, Atriplex, Sinapis and Trifolium spp.) are taken to a
small extent by Rooks, Crows and Magpies, and more often by
Jackdaws. Wild fruits (e.g. Sambucus nigra, Fragaria vesca, Rubus
fruticosus, Prunus spinosa, and less often Crataegus monogyna)
are taken by several species, and plums (Prunus sp.), Pears (Pyrus
communis) and apples (Malus sp.) are taken from orchards in small
quantity.
Acorns (Quercus sp.) are taken in small quantity in autumn and
winter by Rooks, Jackdaws and Magpies but form the staple diet
of Jays for much of the year. Most of the acorns eaten by Jays
in the spring and summer have probably been hidden during the
autumn and winter and later recovered (Goodwin 1955). Hazel nuts
(Corylus avellana) and Sweet Chestnuts (Castanea sativa) are also
taken in small quantity by Jays and may be hidden in the same way
as acorns. Walnuts (Juglans regia) are taken in the autumn by
Rooks in some areas and are opened by being dropped from the
air onto roads and other hard surfaces.
Mammal, bird and fish carrion is an important food of Ravens
and is frequently taken by Crows, Rooks and Magpies, occasionally
by Jackdaws but rarely, if at all, by Jays. Live mammals, especially
rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and occasionally lambs and sickly
or trapped sheep, are sometimes killed by Ravens and Crows; voles
148
 FOOD OF BRITISH CORVIDAE

TABLE IRECORDED FOODS OF BRITISH CORVIDAB

Based on the literature and personal observations: few records only (5 or less); + more
numerous records; X important food of species on farmland.
3

iv B
U ^
ti ^
Vegetable Foods
Potato (Solanum tuberosum) +
Root Crops +
Peas and Beans (Pisum, Vicia) + +
Grain (Triticum, Avena, Hordeum) + X X X X
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Wild Plant seeds + + X +

Apple (Malus sp.)
Pear, Cherry, Plum (Pyrus, Prunus)
Wild Fruits and Cultivated soft fruits
Acorns and Beechmast (Quercus, Fagus
sylvatica) +
Sweet Chestnuts (Castanea sativa)
Hazel Nuts (Corylus avellana)
Walnuts (Juglans regio) +

Animal Foods
Sick Lambs and Sheep + +
Live Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) +
Live small mammals + X X

Full-grown live birds +

Carrion meat X X + +
Birds' eggs + + + + X X
Nestling birds + + + + +
Live fish
Fish carrion + + +
Amphibians
Reptiles
Earthworms and eggs (Lumbricidae) X
Terrestrial molluscs
Freshwater molluscs
Littoral Invertebrates +
Grassland Insects X X + X
Woodland Insects + + X
Spiders, Woodlice, Centipedes + + +
Ticks (Ixodoidea) + -i-
Miscellaneous
Bread
Proprietary Animal feed-stuffs
Rubber and Putty

(Microtus sp.) and mice (Apodemus sylvaticus, Mus musculus) are

frequently caught and eaten by Crows and Magpies, and less often
by Jays.
A wide range of insect species is taken by all of the British
Corvidae. Crows, Rooks, Jackdaws and Magpies take numbers of
grassland insects especially in the spring and summer. Jays take
defoliating caterpillars from woodland trees in the late spring and
149
 BIRD STUDY

feed their nestlings almost entirely on them (Owen 1956); Rooks

and Jackdaws also take smaller numbers at the same time of the
year. Earthworms are an important food of Rooks for much of the
year and are a common food of Crows in spring, autumn and winter.
The shorter billed species take very few earthworms at any time
of the year.

TABLE II-PERCENTAGE OF CARRION CROW GIZZARDS CONTAINING VARIOUS

FOODS

Jan-Feb Mar-Apr May Jun Jul-Aug Sep-Oct Nov-Dec

Apple 6 6 5
Wild fruits and seeds 8 7 3 17 41 35
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Grain 71 65 60 78 82 93
Potato 2 10
Root crops 2
Animal meal 2
Bread 2
Rabbit 2
Carrion meat 7 16 3 6 15
Small Mammals 7 14 31 22 6 10
Hen and Duck eggs 3 6
Fish carrion 7 14
Earthworms 47 36 9 17 20
Snails 7 3 6 18 5
Coleoptera imagines 31 29 26 12 15
Other insects 3 29 71 50

Number of Gizzards 86 58 35 18 17 20

TABLE III-PERCENTAGE OF ROOK GIZZARDS CONTAINING VARIOUS FOODS

Includes data from Lockie (1956)
Jan-Feb Mar-Apr May Jun Jul-Oct Nov-Dec
Acorns 27 13
Grain 93 98 67 100 100
Other farm produce 33 8 5 4
Weed seeds 7 7 9
Elder, Plum and Apple 20
Carrion 2 5 14 7
Birds' eggs 2 5
Slugs and Snails 5 25 14 13 4
Earthworms and eggs 78 91 76 53 83
Spiders 5
Curculionidae imagines 6 6 14 20 4
Other Coleoptera imagines 6* 36 24 27 17
Coleoptera larvae 1* 11 10 7* *
Diptera imagines 2* 5* 40 *
Diptera larvae and pupae * 43 20 4*
Lepidoptera larvae and pupae 2* 6 24 33 4*
Other insects 23 11 38 13 17

Number of Gizzards 82 123 21 15 23

Note: Some of the figures for the proportion of gizzards containing insect foods from
several groups are too low (indicated by asterisks) as Lockie lumped these with 'other
insects' in some months but not in others.

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 FOOD OF BRITISH CORVIDAE

Suburban and urban populations of Corvidae consume quantities

of bread and other scraps when they are available and will eat
almost anything that can be swallowed when feeding on town
rubbish tips and similar places.

TABLE IV-PERCENTAGE OF JACKDAW GIZZARDS CONTAINING VARIOUS FOODS

Includes data from Lockie (1956)

Jan-Feb Mar-Apr May Jun Jul-Oct Nov-Dec

Acorns 9 3
Grain 90 51 44 97 100
Other farm produce 42 18 3
Weed seeds 56 40 7 37 28
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Elder, Plum and Apple 2 14 3

Carrion 4 3
Slugs and Snails 27 5 7 9 6
Earthworms and eggs 7 3 3
Spiders 9
Curculionidae imagines 15 54 43 54 28
Other Coleoptera imagines 21* 18 52 26 13
Coleoptera larvae 2* 7 11 6* 3*
Diptera imagines 4 1* 4* 43 *
Diptera larvae and pupae 2 4* 15 11 3*
Lepidoptera larvae and pupae 9 19 9 *
Other insects 10 16 11 9 16

Number of Gizzards 52 76 27 35 32

Note: Use of asterisks as in Table III.

TABLE V-PERCENTAGE OF MAGPIE GIZZARDS CONTAINING VARIOUS FOODS

Jan-Feb Mar-Apr May Jun Jul-Aug Sep-Oct Nov-Dec

Acorns (50)
Chestnuts (50)
Wild fruits and seeds 15 5 4 17
Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus) 8
Peas 5
Grain 62 32 12 75 (100)
Rabbit 14 8
Mammal carrion 5 4 8
Small Mammals 31 5 16 25
Passerine birds' eggs 5
Game bird eggs 5 23 8
Hen and Turkey eggs 17
Woodlice (Isopoda) - 23
Snails 8 32 31 17 (50)
Earthworm eggs 8
Coleoptera imagines 46 64 77 83 (50) (50)
Other insects 23 27 20 8 (50)

Number of Gizzards 13 22 26 12 2 2

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 BIRD STUDY

TABLE VIPERCENTAGE OF JAY GIZZARDS CONTAINING VARIOUS FOODS

Jan-Feb Mar-Apr May Jun Jul-Aug Sep-Oct Nov-Dec

Acorns 100 47 28 (100) (86)
Chestnuts 6 8
Hazel-nuts (14)
Wild fruits and seeds 21 16 (50)
Strawberry 28
Grain 6 16 8 (75) (29)
Small Mammals 5 4
Passerine birds' eggs 11 8
Passerine pulli 8
Snakes (Natrix helvetica) 5
Snails 5
Coleoptera imagines 50 95 96 (100) (67) (14)
Lepidoptera larvae 21 16
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Other insects 11 8 (33)

Number of Gizzards 16 19 25 4 3 7

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am grateful to the editors of The Field, The Annual Report of the Game
Research Association, The Gamekeepers' Gazette and the Shooting Times for
publishing letters asking readers to send corvid gizzards, and to the following
for sending them, in some cases regularly over a long period : J. Adams, C.
Bremner, R. Buchan, J. A. Hardman, J. Jarrett, J. H. Linggard, H. Mayer-
Gross, S. Meadows, R. R. Mills, Major J. Pares, D. Peach, R. Praeger, R. J.
Pratt, J. Reynolds, A. Rose, R. E. Scott, P. E. Smith, D. Smithurst, E. F.
Williams, and J. Wilson. Particular thanks are due to Tony Rose for making
his analyses of Magpie and Jay food available to me.
Thanks are due to B. N. K. Davis and H. B. Ginn for commenting on drafts
of this paper.

SUMMARY
The results of 873 gizzard analyses of five species of Corvidae are given, all
from farming areas (Tables II-VI) Each food is expressed in terms of its
frequency of occurrence. Although this method tends to minimise seasonal
and specific differences, a number of significant differences between the
species are apparent in the results and are briefly discussed.

REFERENCES
CAMPBELL, J. N. 1936. On the food of some British birds. Brit. Birds, 30:209-218.
COLLINGE, W. E. 1924. The Food of Some British Wild Birds. York.
FOLK, 6. & TougKOVA, T. 1. 1966. Potrava havrana polnfho, Corvus frugilegus v
pr" edhnfzdnfm a hnfzdnfm obdobf. Zool. Listy, 15:23-32.
FOLK, . 1967. Die Nahrung der Dohle, Corvus monedula, in der CSSR. Zool.
Listy, 16:61-72.
GOODWIN, D. 1955. Jays and Carrion Crows recovering hidden food. Brit. Birds,
48: 181-183.
HELL, P. & SOVI$, B. 1958. Prispevok k Poznaniu Trofickych vzt'ahov havrano-
vitho vtktva k Po1'nohospadrstvu v zimm m obdobf na Slovensku. Zool.
Listy, 7: 38-56.
HOLYOAK, D. 1967. Food and feeding actions of Choughs. Bird Study, 14:61-62.
KLUIJVER, H. N. 1945. Eenige gegevens over het voedsel en economische
beteekenis van der Kauw (Coleus monedula). Limosa, 18:1-11.
KOERSVELD, E. VAN. 1951. Difficulties in stomach analysis. Proc. Xth. Int. Orn.
Congr. (1950):592-594.
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 FOOD OF BRITISH CORVIDAE

LOCKIE, j.D. 1956. The food and feeding behaviour of the Jackdaw, Rook and
Carrion Crow. I. Anim. Ecol., 25:421-428.
MADON, P. 1928. Les Corvids d'Europe. Mmoires de la Socit Ornithologque
et Mammalogique de France no. 1.
OWEN, D. F. 1956. The food of nestling Jays and Magpies. Bird Study, 3:257-265.
PIVAR, G. 1966. Biologko ekonomski znadaj vrane gabca (Corvus frugilegus
frugilegus L.) za ratarske kulture na podrudju istodne Slavonije. Larus,
1966:159-280.
RATCLIFFE, D. A. 1962. Breeding density in the Peregrine Falco peregrinus and
Raven Corvus corax. Ibis, 104:13-39.

D. Holyoak,
British Trust for Ornithology,
Beech Grove,
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Tring,
Herts.

153