136 TJ. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 211 



dress perhaps averaging browner above with less buff below and the 

 chin narrowly streaked. The first winter plumage is acquired by a 

 complete postjuvenal moult as in the male, from which the female 

 now differs widely, being brown and broadly streaked. The first 

 winter plumage is hardly distinguishable from the adult winter and 

 passes into the first nuptial by wear, which produces a black and white 

 streaked bird, brown above. A pinkish or salmon tinge is often 

 found in females in any of these plumages, especially about the chin 

 and head, and an orange or crimson tinge may show on the 'shoulders' 

 of the older birds." 



Food. — Beal (1900) prepared an extensive report on the food of 

 the redwing, based on an examination of 1,083 stomachs collected 

 during every month in the year from most of its range in the United 

 States and Canada. In spite of the prevailing impression that red- 

 wings are very injurious to the farmer's interests, his diagram shows no 

 very decided foundness for grain, as most of the birds' food consisted 

 of weed seeds and insects. Unfortunately, no stomachs were examined 

 from the rice-growing region during sowing and harvesting of this 

 crop, where considerable damage is claimed. "The food of the year 

 was found to consist of 73.4 percent of vegetable matter and 26.6 

 percent of animal." His table shows the following average percent- 

 ages for the 12 months: Animal food — predaceous beetles 2.5, snout- 

 beetles 4.1, other beetles 3.5, caterpillars 5.9, grasshoppers 4.7, other 

 insects 4.1, spiders and myriapods 1.3, other animal food 0.5, total 

 26.6 percent; vegetable food — fruit 0.6, corn 4.6, oats 6.3, wheat 2.2, 

 other grain 0.8, weed seeds 54.6, other vegetable food 4.3; total — 73.4 

 percent. The consumption of weed seeds amounts to 97 percent in 

 November. 



Another table shows the frequency with which certain vegetable 

 foods were taken. Among the larger items, oats were found in 190 

 stomachs and corn in 117. Weed seeds of some kind were apparantly 

 found in all the stomachs, panic grass in 168, bear grass in 271, rag- 

 weed in 189, and smartweed in 200. Small fruits were seldom eaten, 

 blackberries being found in 7 stomachs, blueberries in 2, and goose- 

 berries, strawberries, and currants were found in only one stomach 

 each. 



Of 84 specimens examined by F. H. King in Wisconsin, 37 had 

 eaten corn and weed seeds, 31 only seeds, 7 only corn, 3 rye, 2 oats, 

 8 wheat, and 2 tender herbage; five had eaten 7 beetles, four 7 grass- 

 hoppers, one a moth, and one a caterpillar; eight had eaten small 

 mollusks. Bendire (1895) includes small mollusks and newts in the 

 food. Forbush (1907) writes: "They forage^about the fields and 

 meadows when they first come north in the spring. Later, they 

 follow the plow, picking up grubs, worms, and caterpillars; and should 



