BOBOLINK (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) 



Length, about 7 inches. 



Range : Breeds from Ohio northeast to Nova 

 Scotia, north to Manitoba, and northwest to 

 British Columbia ; winters in South America. 



Habits and economic status : When Ameri- 

 can writers awoke to the beauty and attract- 

 iveness of our native birds, among the first to 

 be enshrined in song and story was the bobo- 

 link. Few species show such striking contrasts 

 in the color of the sexes, and few have songs 

 more unique and whimsical. In its northern 

 home the bird is loved for its beauty and its 

 rich melody ; in the South it earns deserved 

 hatred by its destructiveness. Bobolinks reach 

 the southeastern coast of the United States the 

 last half of April, just as rice is sprouting, and 

 at once begin to pull up and devour the sprout- 

 ing kernels. Soon they move on to their north- 

 ern breeding grounds, where tliey feed upon 

 insects, weed seeds, and a little grain. When 

 the young are well on the wing, tliey gather 

 in flocks witli the parent birds and gradually 

 move southward, being then generally known 

 as reed birds. They reach the rice fields 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 re- 

 sult. 



COMMON CROW 

 (Corvus brachyrhynchos) 



Length, 19 inches. 



Range : Breeds throughout the L^nitcd States 

 and most of Canada; winters generally in the 

 United States. 



Habits and economic status : The general 

 habits of the crow are universally known. Its 

 ability to commit such misdeeds as pulling 

 corn and stealing eggs and fruit and to get 

 awajr unscathed is little short of marvelous. 

 Much of the crow's success in life is due to 

 cooperation, and the social instinct of the spe- 

 cies has its highest expression in the winter 

 roosts, which are sometimes frequented by 

 hundreds of thousands of crows. From these 

 roosts daily flights of many miles are made in 

 search of food. Injury to sprouting corn is 

 the most frequent complaint against this spe- 

 cies, but by coating the seed grain with coal 

 tar most of tliis damage may be prevented. 

 Losses of poultr\' and eggs may be averted by 

 proper housing and the judicious use of wire 

 netting. The insect food of the crow includes 

 wireworms, cutworms, white grubs, and grass- 

 hoppers, and during outbreaks of these insects 

 the crow renders good service. The bird is 

 also an efficient scavenger. But chiefly because 

 of its destruction of beneficial wild birds and 

 their eggs the crow must be classed as a crim- 

 inal, and a reduction in its numbers in locali- 

 ties is justifiable. 



AIJv .\150.\UD! 



Photogr.Tiih by W. C. Johnson 



The first venture of these little swans upon the stormy seas of life is safely negotiated 

 upon their motlier's back, while she, with a true mother's pride in her offspring, takes every 

 care that no harm shall come. 



59 



