No. 20.] THE BIRDS OF CONNECTICUT. 303 



tically certain that half of this is waste. (3) More than 50 per 

 cent consists of the seeds of noxious weeds, whose destruction 

 is a positive benefit to the farmer. (4) Fruit is practically not 

 eaten." But, when you remember that for every Cowbird that 

 grows to maturity we lose probably all, or at least a part, of a 

 family of some of our small birds — usually the Red-eyed Vireo, 

 Yellow Warbler, or Oven-bird, — the balance changes. It may be 

 impossible at present to prove that the birds we thus lose are of 

 more value, but all the evidence points that way, and we believe 

 the Cowbird should be killed with as little compunction as the 

 English Sparrow, and its eggs destroyed at every opportunity. 



Although the Red-winged Blackbird (Agehius phceniceus 

 phcenicens) feeds largely on grain during the months of harvest, 

 its service in devouring weed seeds and harmful insects the rest 

 of the year is so great as to turn the balance well in its favor. 

 " The food of the year was found to consist of 73.4 per cent of 

 vegetable matter and 26.6 per cent of animal. The animal food 

 begins with 1.4 per cent in January, and gradually increases to 

 88.2 per cent in June, after which it regularly decreases to a 

 fraction of 1 per cent in November. With the exception of a 

 few snails and crustaceans, it consists entirely of insects and 

 their allies (spiders and myriapods), so that, roughly speaking, 

 insects constitute one-fourth of the year's food. They consist 

 principally of beetles, grasshoppers, and caterpillars, with a few 

 wasps, ants, flies, bugs, and dragon-flies. 



"The beetles (Coleoptera) amount to a little more than 10 

 per cent of the food, and the greater part of them are harmful 

 insects. They belong to several families, but only one group is 

 eaten extensively enough to be greatly distinguished above the 

 others. This is the suborder of snout-beetles, or weevils 

 (Rhynchophora). These constitute 4.1 per cent of the year's 

 food, but in June amount to 22.4 per cent of the food of the 

 month. All the beetles of this group are injurious, some of them 



greatly so." 



" Grasshoppers (Orthoptera) are eaten practically in every 

 month of the year, though none were found in the 11 stomachs 

 taken in January. They constitute 4.7 per cent of the whole 

 food, and are exceeded by no other insects except beetles and 

 caterpillars. The greatest number (amounting to 17 per cent) 



