Prey

Prey is a Clan term for the small animals that are caught for the purpose of consumption.

Details

 * The importance of eating is something that all of the Clans are concerned about every single day. They eat to keep up strength and maintain the health of the Clan as a whole. Each of the Clans have a hunting specialty, due to the terrain they are familiar with and the traditions the cats are raised by. Many different species are hunted by the warrior cats. Usually, after killing prey, a cat will give praise to StarClan for its life, and will bury it to keep it safe from other predators until they are ready to carry it back to camp. The remains (i.e. the bones, feathers, fur) are traditionally buried. Cats will not kill prey only for fun, without the intention of using it to feed oneself, or the Clan, as this is part of the warrior code. The hunters may not eat until they have caught prey for the rest of the Clan. Traditionally, the weaker cats will be fed before the apprentices and warriors. The leader of a Clan must send more patrols before the cold weather strikes. In leaf-bare, prey is much harder to find.

Crowfood
"Crowfood" is the Clan term for prey that has left to become rotten and unfit to eat. Prey typically is considered Crowfood after about one or two days since it was killed. Clan cats will occasionally eat crowfood if they are desperate and starving, but they avoid it as much as possible as it usually causes bellyaches or more severe illnesses. The word "crowfood" can also be used as an insult, such as, "Shut up, you mangy piece of crowfood."

In the old forest, a source of crowfood was Carrionplace, where rotten prey could always be found, but it was known to carry sickness. However, ShadowClan sometimes resorted to eating it, as the warriors were used for fighting, not hunting.

=List of Prey Animals=

Frogs

 * Starlight: Littlecloud comments on his hunger and wouldn't mind eating a frog. That causes the other medicine cats to stare at him in surprise, but Littlecloud defends himself, saying, "They don't taste that bad!"
 * Secrets of the Clans: During the tour of the old ShadowClan camp, Boulder says to the reader "Oh, I see you've spotted a frog. I know they look pretty unappetizing - trust me, I was as reluctant as you to try them when I first came to the forest. But you should try them. Peel off the skin first - that's very chewy. Underneath, it tastes like if you mixed rabbits and fish together."
 * Into the Woods: Sasha watches a ShadowClan patrol consisting of Tigerstar, Rowanpaw, and Jaggedtooth chasing a frog. Rowanpaw comments that they're nasty, but Tigerstar says that distasteful or not, prey is prey.

Toads

 * Starlight: Littlecloud comments on his hunger and wouldn't mind eating a toad and the other medicine cats exclaim in surprise, but Littlecloud defends himself, saying, "They don't taste that bad!

Eagles

 * Moonrise: Stormfur almost gets caught by an eagle as he jumps across a gap on the way to the Tribe of Rushing Water.
 * Dawn: Marshkit almost gets taken by an eagle, but Brackenfur saves him by clawing at the bird until it loosens its grip.
 * Outcast: As Jaypaw crosses a gap on the way to the Tribe, an eagle screech startles him. Later, Pebble tells the cats that only cave-guards know how to fight attacking eagles.
 * Sign of the Moon: The Ancients, newly moved into the mountains, experience trouble with these birds. Jayfeather (as Jay's Wing) teaches them how to hunt the eagles by acting as bait.

Hawks

 * A Dangerous Path: Snowkit is taken by a hawk despite the other Clan member's attempts to free him.
 * Moonrise: Crag teaches Stormfur how to hunt hawks by saving him from one. Later, Stormfur catches a hawk to share with the other travelers.
 * Dawn: When all the Clans are starving, Tornear reports that WindClan had captured a hawk a few days ago.

Finches

 * Into the Wild: When Firepaw and Graypaw are hunting, Graypaw is seen wolfing down a finch.

Thrushes

 * Rising Storm: Fireheart catches a thrush and another piece of prey for the two ShadowClan cats, Littlecloud and Whitethroat, when they come to beg for help
 * Forest of Secrets: Fireheart and Brackenpaw are hunting when Fireheart sees a thrush. Unfortunately, Brackenpaw calls out to him about ShadowClan invaders and the thrush flies away.
 * Dark River: Cinderpaw covers for Lionpaw by saying he ate a stale thrush. Later, Whitewing is seen carrying a plump thrush back from a hunting patrol.

Sparrows

 * Into the Wild: Rusty is at his home watching baby sparrows.
 * Fire and Ice: Brackenpaw is seen plucking the feathers from a sparrow.
 * Rising Storm: After CLoudpaw gets stolen by the Twolegs, Fireheart rescues him and CLoudpaw is seen happily gulping down a sparrow.

Crows

 * Into the Wild: Ravenpaw catches an old, yet big, crow, impressing Tigerclaw
 * Dark River: Brackenfur catches a crow after Hollypaw questions him about the new kits in ShadowClan and whether she would be able to fight them in battle.

Pigeons and Doves

 * Into the Wild: Firepaw hunts a pigeon, but then it is time to go. He wistfully looks back at the pigeon while walking back.
 * Rising Storm: Cloudpaw kills a pigeon before Fireheart is able to, making Fireheart somewhat annoyed. Later, Cloudpaw catches another pigeon, but forgets to bring it back from where it was buried. When interrogated by Fireheart, Cloudpaw says that some owl probably flew off with it.

Starlings

 * Forest of Secrets: Fireheart is seen waking up late and choosing a starling, one of the last pieces, from the fresh-kill pile
 * Rising Storm: Cloudpaw runs past a small group of starlings, and the birds scurry upward in a flutter of wings

Magpies

 * Forest of Secrets: Cinderpaw offers to take Bluestar some fresh-kill and she grabbs a magpie. Upon lifting the bird off of the fresh-kill pile, its flesh falls away to reveal that it's covered with maggots.
 * Rising Storm: Cloudpaw chooses a magpie from the fresh-kill pile to give to the Clan leader, Bluestar
 * Crookedstar's Promise: A magpie knocks Stormkit out of a tree. Later, Shellheart organizes a patrol to catch it.

Pheasants

 * Dawn: Shrewpaw chases after a pheasant over a Thunderpath, knowing that such a large bird would feed the Clan very well, and he is hit and killed by a monster. Thornclaw, Shrewpaw's mentor, explains this to Firestar when he returns to camp.
 * Fading Echoes: Sandstorm catches a pheasant on a hunting patrol.

Wrens

 * The Sight: Jaykit smelled out a wren with a belly alive with maggots in the fresh-kill pile and shows it to Leafpool, who praises him for finding it.

Blackbirds

 * Forest of Secrets:Brackenpaw tries to catch a blackbird, but it senses him and flutters upward. Fortunately, Brackenpaw leaps up and catches it, but not with good technique. Fireheart cheers him up about it, and they go back to camp. Later, Sandstorm is seen eating a blackbird from the fresh-kill pile.

Robins

 * Into the Wild: When Smudge talks about Henry, he mentions that Henry caught a robin in the woods

Fish

 * Forest of Secrets: The fish in the river become poisoned from Twoleg rubbish, and RiverClan starts to starve
 * Rising Storm - When Fireheart visits Graystripe, Graystripe swims through the water like a fish. Fireheart wonders how Graystripe's thick pelt allows him to do that, and Graystripe says that's one of the advantages of eating fish

Shrews (terrestrial)

 * Into the Wild - Graystripe, Graypaw at the time, says that Sandpaw and Dustpaw must have eaten a shrew while on duty
 * Forest of Secrets - Cloudpaw proudly carries a shrew that he caught all by himself, even though he's still a young apprentice
 * Rising Storm - Cloudpaw is gone for a long time, making Fireheart anxious. When he comes back, he has a tiny shrew in his mouth, and Fireheart asks him how many cats that's going to feed.

Water Shrews

 * Dark River - Mistyfoot is seen stalking a water shrew. She is frustrated when it runs away, since her Clan is starving.

Rabbits

 * Into the Wild: Firepaw catches a rabbit for Yellowfang, Smudge mentions that wild cats that live in the woods eat live rabbits for breakfast, Sandpaw and Dustpaw catch a plump rabbit for the elders
 * Forest of Secrets: Fireheart catches a rabbit for Yellowfang and Cinderpaw. Yellowfang thanks him, as people have been in the medicine den all day
 * Rising Storm
 * Crookedstar's Promise

Snakes

 * Sunrise: Honeyfern is killed by a snakebite while saving Briarkit.

Adders

 * Bluestar's Prophecy: Goosefeather tells Bluekit and Snowkit that Smallear is recovering from an adder bite.
 * Into the Wild: An adder is caught by Ravenpaw on a hunting assessment.

Squirrels

 * Into the Wild: When Graypaw catches a squirrel, he spits it next to Firepaw's finch, commenting that squirrels are too furry
 * Forest of Secrets: Fireheart manages to catch a squirrel on his way back from the RiverCLan camp. He is grateful, because if he didn't, the CLan would think he was good for nothing

Voles

 * Forest of Secrets: Graystripe, in an unusually good mood, catches a particularly speedy vole
 * Warrior's Refuge: Millie catches her first vole

Water Vole

 * Into the Wild - Firepaw is about to catch a water vole when Graystripe accidentally scares it away
 * Fire and Ice - Graystripe falls into the river while trying to catch a water vole. He later gets slightly annoyed at Firepaw for distracting him from his catch
 * Cinderpaw, Hollypaw and Berrypaw are on their assessment when Cinderpaw says that she caught four water voles

Mice

 * Into the Wild - Rusty is about to catch a mouse when his bell jingles and the mouse gets away, Later Firepaw catches his first prey: a mouse
 * Forest of Secrets - Fireheart catches a mouse for Graypool, who is an elder, in thanks for talking to him about the past of Mistyfoot and Stonefur

Rats

 * Into the Wild - After coming back from the Moonstone, Barley points Firepaw, Graypaw, Tigerclaw, and Bluestar into a direction with no dogs. Unfortunately, there are rats, and Barley comes back to help fight them.

Trivia

 * Although the terms pigeon and dove can be used interchangably, in Rising Storm, Fireheart gets mad at Cloudpaw telling him that he caught a pigeon, not a dove.