BIRD BIOGRAPHIES 



into a small flock and begins to live almost entirely upon 

 vegetable food. This consists for the most part of weed 

 seeds, since in the North these birds do not appear to at- 

 tack grain to any extent. They eat a few oats." ^ 



Dr. Henshaw adds: "When the young are well on the 

 wing, they gather in flocks with the parent birds and grad- 

 ually move southward, being then generally known as reed- 

 birds. They reach the ricefields of the Carolinas about 

 August 20, when the rice is in the milk. Then until the 

 birds depart for South America, planters and birds fight 

 for the crop, and in spite of constant watchfulness and 

 innumerable devices for scaring the birds a loss of 10 

 per cent, of the rice is the usual result." ^ 



Major Bendire, in his "Life Histories of North Ameri- 

 can Birds," quotes a letter from Capt. W. M. Hazzard, a 

 large rice-grower of South Carolina, written concerning 

 the warfare waged against these ricebirds: 



"The Bobolinks make their appearance here during the 

 latter part of April. At that season, their plumage is 

 white and black, and they sing merrily when at rest. 

 Their flight is always at night. In the evening there are 

 none. In the morning their appearance is heralded by 

 the popping of whips and firing of musketry by the bird- 

 minders in their eff'orts to keep the birds from pulling up 

 the young rice. This warfare is kept up incessantly un- 

 til about the 25th of May, when they suddenly disappear 

 at night. Their next appearance is in a dark yellow 

 plumage, as the Ricebird. There is no song at this time, 

 but instead a chirp which means ruin to any rice found in 

 the milk. My plantation record will show that for the 



2 Farmers' Bulletin 630, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Biological Survey. 



3 Farmers' Bulletin 513, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Biological Survey. 



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