38 



Rusty Grackle. This is a much smaller species than the last, and is not of any 

 importance to us from an agricultural point of view. I merely mentiou it as it occurs 

 here in considerable numbers for a short time in the autumn, but as it does not 

 arrive until the early part of September, the crops are safe from its ravages. In 

 Manitoba, where it is very abundant, it unites with the other blackbirds and destroys 

 a large amount of grain. A few pass through this Province in the spring on their 

 way to the north to breed, but they make no delay and are not noticeable. 



Red-winged Blacktird. From an agricultural standpoint this bird has little to 

 recommend it, but to the lover of nature its beautiful coloring and cheery note in 

 early spring render it an object of interest. They are among our earliest migrants, 

 arriving about the middle of March, and resorting at once to the marshes, in which 

 they remain until the young are able to fly. While in the swamps their food con- 

 sists almost entirely of aquatic insects, of which the larv^ of the dragon flies form 

 the principal part. As these larva form an important item in the food of some of 

 OUT most valuable fish, and the mature dragon flies feed largely on mosquitos and 

 other small winged insects, the blackbirds are not doing mankind a particularly 

 friendly service by destroying them. This would perhaps not be worth sufficient 

 consideration to warrant our interference with the birds were it not for their other 

 and more serious failing. As soon as the young are able to fly strongly, which is 

 about the middle of July, they leave the marshes in which they were bred, and in 

 great flocks resort to the grain fields, where, like the Grackle, with which they fre- 

 quently associate, they do much damage, particularly to oats, which they seem to 

 prefer to any other grain. As these birds are very abundant, the loss caused by 

 their plundering, must be very great, but they can fortunately easily be managed 

 if a little attention is paid to them in the spring, when they may be shot off on their 

 breeding grounds. 



After the grain is carried, they again return to the marshes, and gorge them- 

 selves on the wild rice, until not a grain of it is left, thereby depriving the wild ducks, 

 etc., of a most attractive food As soon as the first frost comes they retire to the 

 south, where they cause much worry to the rice-grower. Little can be said in 

 extenuation of these serious faults. They never interfere with other birds or their 

 nests, and they probably destroy some noxious insects, such as cut worms, etc., in 

 meadows, lying near the swamps they frequent in the early part of the season, but 

 this is all that can be urged in their favor. 



Coivhird. This bird should be known to every one, and should be destroyed 

 whenever the opportunity occurs. It is the only feathered creature against which 

 I would advocate a war of extermination, and this I do, because it is not only of no 

 value in itself, but the rearing of each one of its young means a loss to the country 

 of an entire brood of one of our valuable insectivorous birds. It is true that during 

 the early part of the season it frequents the pasture fields where cattle are grazing, 

 and feeds principally on the insects affecting such places, but this is easily counter- 

 balanced by the grain it destroys later on. These birds do not mate, nor do they build 

 a nest for themselves, but the female deposits each of her eggs in the nest of some 

 other small bird. The egg is whitish, thickly covered with greyish brown dots. I 

 have found the eggs of this bird in the nests of nearly all the sparrows, fincbes and 

 warblers that breed in the Province. After the egg of the Cowbird is deposited, 

 the female takes no further interest in the matter, but leaves it to be hatched by the 

 real owner of the nest in which it has been placed ; in due time the young will appear 

 and then the trouble arises. In a few days the young Cowbird has far outgrown its 



