138 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 211 



In the Middle West, where the redwings are much more abundant 

 and where the cereal crops are more extensively cultivated, these and 

 other blackbirds, in late summer and fall, swoop down in vast hordes 

 on the grain fields and do an immense amount of damage to the grain 

 both while it is ripening and while it is being harvested. Even there, 

 the redwing has some good points in its favor. Lawrence Bruner 

 (1896) writes from Nebraska: "Even when it visits our corn fields it 

 more than pays for the corn it eats by the destruction of the worms 

 that lurk under the husks of a large percent of the ears in every field. 

 Several years ago the beet fields in the vicinity of Grand Island were 

 threatened great injury by a certain caterpillar that had nearly 

 defoliated all the beets growing in many of tbem. At about this time 

 large flocks of this bird appeared and after a week's sojourn the 

 caterpillar plague had vanished, it having been converted into bird 

 tissue." 



In the Southern States, it does great damage to the rice crop by 

 pulling up the seedling rice plants in the spring and by eating the soft 

 grain as it ripens. In this respect the redwing is almost as bad as the 

 bobolink. It does some good, however, by destroying the seeds of the 

 so-called "volunteer" rice, which, if allowed to grow, would injure the 

 value of the crop. 



S. D. Judd (1901) says that on the fall migration, bobolinks and 

 redwings converge and swarm into the limited area of the rice districts 

 so as to destroy annually $2 million worth of the crop. And B. H. 

 Warren (1890) quotes T. S. Wilkinson as saying: "The rice crop in 

 Louisiana, from the time the rice is in the milk till harvest time and 

 during harvesting, is much damaged by birds, principally the Red- 

 shouldered Blackbird. Shooting is the only remedy thus far resorted 

 to which is at all effective, and it is only partially so. I have known 

 rice crops to be destroyed to the extent of over 50 percent, which is a 

 loss of say $13 per acre. While this is an extreme case, a damage and 

 expense of from $5 to $10 per acre is very common." 



Beal (1900) says in conclusion: "In summing up the economic 

 status of the redwing the principal point to attract attention is the 

 small percentage of grain in the year's food, seemingly so much at 

 variance with the complaints of the bird's destructive habits. Judged 

 by the contents of the stomach alone, the redwing is most decidedly a 

 useful bird. The service rendered by the destruction of noxious 

 insects and weed seeds far outweighs the damage due to its consump- 

 tion of grain. The destruction that it sometimes causes must be 

 attributed entirely to its too great abundance in some localities." 



Behavior. — On the ground the redwing walks deliberately, or runs, 

 or hops rapidly when trying to keep up with a feeding flock. In late 

 summer or early fall, one may occasionally see immense flocks of 



