96 BED-WINGED BLACKBIRD 



lio. In fact, Professor Beal concludes that " by 

 destroying insects they do incalculable good." 



Red-winged Blackbird : Agelalus phoeniceus. 



(Plate yi.) 



Geographic Distribution.— North America, from Costa Eica 

 to Great Slave Lake and New Brunswick ; breeds throughout 

 most of the United States and its Canadian range, and winters 

 from Virginia southward. 



In Minnesota there is a bounty on the Eed-wing, 

 but its grain-eating habit is purely local, and, as 

 Professor Beal has found, nearly seven eighths of 

 its food is of injurious weeds and insects whose 

 destruction is a decided benefit to agriculture. 

 This shows unmistakably that the bird should be 

 protected, except perhaps in a few places where 

 it may be too abundant. 



Prof. Lawrence Bruner says : " In the Eed- 

 winofed Blackbird we have a friend that we little 

 dream of when we see the large flocks gathering 

 about our cornfields during late summer and early 

 fall. During the balance of the year it is en- 

 gaged most of the time in waging war u^^on 

 various insect pests, including such forms as the 

 grub worms, cutworms, grasshoppers, army worm, 

 beet caterpillar, etc. Even when it visits our 

 cornfields it more than pays for the corn it eats, 

 by the destruction of the worms that lurk under 

 the husks of the large per cent, of the ears in 

 every field. 



