536 GEOLOGICAL SCJRVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 



nests to a tree ; the distribution was not very even, however, as 

 one tree had five nests on, and nine trees none. Two broods are 

 generally raised, the second leaving the nests about July 15th. 

 [C. C. A.] 



" If the habits of this species, as well as some of the preceding, 

 be studied during their whole stay in the State, conclusions will 

 be arrived at that will be in a marked degree at variance with 

 the one popular idea, that 'crow blackbirds' hurt the corn-crop 

 and ought to be exterminated. Without a doubt, these birds do 

 destroy much grain, and prove a great annoyance to the farmer 

 by causing a necessity for replanting, but the corn-hills very 

 probably have suffered fully as much from grubs beneath the 

 surface, as from birds above it. Not unfrequently has it proved 

 to be the case that the stomachs of blackbirds killed upon corn- 

 fields, in May, have revealed masses of semi-digested grubs, and 

 a mere trace of grain. 



" If, as is recommended by many, a bounty be put upon every 

 dozen blackbirds killed, and so favor their extermination, then 

 nature's equilibrium will be destroyed, and the unavoidable excess 

 of noxious worms will annihilate the corn- crops. It cannot be 

 too emphatically announced or too persistently maintained, that 

 birds as a tribe are useful, and those apparently least so are suffi- 

 ciently so to warrant their protection rather than destruction. 

 There is no bird of the many found in New Jersey that does not 

 confer actual benefit upon the agriculturist, the nearest approach 

 to an exception being the ( cedar bird ; ' and when as in the case 

 of the crow-blacks, at certain times, they are injurious to corn, it 

 is the farmer's duty to devise means of frightening them off, for 

 the time being, and not to destroy them, for it must be remem- 

 bered that their services are of no mean value, when, following 

 the plow in the spring, they gather up greater enemies to the 

 crops than their necessities ever caused them (the blackbirds) to 

 be." [C. C. A.] 



Q. quiscula aeneus, Ridg. Bronzed Grackle. 



Plumage of body brassy olive or bronze ; neck blue, violet, 

 purple or brassy green ; wing coverts without metallic tints ; 

 wings and tail violet purple, never bluish ; female smaller than 

 male. Length, 12| inches; tail, 5 J inches. Occasional in New 

 Jersey, crossing the Alleghanies or from New England. 



