BICOLORED REDWING 173 



to nearly 91 percent. Beetles, mostly leaf bettles and weevils, aggre- 

 gated about 5 percent. Wasps and ants were eaten very sparingly 

 in summer, as were certain bugs, less than 1 percent of each for the 

 year. Grasshoppers constituted over 15 percent of the food in July, 

 but only 1.5 percent for the year. Caterpillars aggregated 5.5 percent 

 for the year, but amounted to over 45 percent of the food in May. 

 The vegetable food consists of grain and weed seeds. 



Grain amounts to 70 and weed seed to 15 percent. The grain consists of corn, 

 wheat, oats, and braley. Oats are the favorite. They amount to over 47 percent 

 of the yearly food, and were eaten in every month except February, when they 

 were replaced by barley. The month of maximum consumption was Deoember, 

 when nearly 72 percent was eaten, but several other months were nearly as high. 

 Wheat stands next to oats in the quantity eaten, nearly 13 percent. It was taken 

 quite regularly in every month except March and May. Barley was found only 

 in stomachs taken in February, October, and November, and nearly all of it 

 was taken in February. The average for the year is 5.5 percent. Corn is eaten 

 still less than barley, and nearly all was consumed in September, when it reached 

 46 percent of the month's food. A little was eaten in May, August, and October, 

 but the aggregate for the year is only slightly more than 4 percent. 



Fruit is not eaten b^y the bicolored redwing. Among the weed seeds, 

 amounting to 15 percent of the total food, he lists 12 species of 

 troublesome weeds and other useless plants. Of the food of the young, 

 he says: "The food was made up of 99 percent of animal matter and 

 1 percent of vegetable, though most of the latter was mere rubbish, 

 no doubt accidental. Caterpillars were the largest item, and amounted 

 to an average 45 percent. Bettles, many of them in the larval state, 

 stood next with 32 percent. Hemiptera, especially stinkbugs and 

 leaf hoppers, amounted to 19 percent. A few miscellaneous insects 

 and spiders made up the other 3 percent." 



As to the economic status of this blackbird, he writes: "In summing 

 up the facts relating to the food of the bicolored redwing, the most 

 prominent point is the great percentage of grain. Evidently if this 

 bird were abundant in a grain-raising country it would be a menace 

 to the crop. But no complaints of the bird's depredations on grain 

 have been made, and it is significant that the grain consumed is not 

 taken at or just before the harvest, but is a constant element of every 

 month's food. As the favorite grain is oats, which grows wild in great 

 abundance, it must be admitted that, with all its possibilities for 

 mischief, the bird at present is doing very little damage." 



Tyler (1913) says that in the Fresno district, "farmers regard this 

 bird with considerable disfavor on account of its fondness for newly 

 planted grain, and because of its attacks upon ripening Kaffir, or 

 Egyptian, corn. In districts where large fields of alfalfa are under 

 irrigation these birds are of much service in destrojdng various bugs 

 and worms." 



