634 ANNUAL KEPORT SMITHSONIAN" INSTITUTION, 1908. 



Kunning through the long list of Indian birds, we meet with some 

 twenty species which the economic ornithologist might perhaps class 

 as " doubtful " birds which certainly do devour food crops, and 

 which must consequently be classed as foes unless they render some 

 service to man by way of compensation for the damage they do. 

 These are the sparrows, the various species of crow, the rose-colored 

 starling, some of the larger finches, the paroquets, the doves, and the 

 geese. 



THE CROWS. 



With the sparrow we have already dealt. The crows look upon the 

 ripening crops as a feast prej)ared for their benefit. But grain forms 

 quite an insignificant portion of their menu. They prefer the dust 

 bin to the field, the town to the country. The corvi are a source of 

 annoyance to man rather than an economic pest. They are useful, if 

 impertinent, scavengers, and undoubtedly destroy a large quantity of 

 harmful insects. When a flight of locusts invades the land they, 

 together with the kites, render yeoman service to the husbandman. 

 Even as a carcass attracts every vulture in the vicinity, so does a 

 swarm of locusts bring together all the crows of the locality. They 

 leave their ordinary occupations to dance attendance upon the devas- 

 tating host, seizing the insects with their claws and conveying them 

 to the beak in mid-air. Each crow devours locusts until threatened by 

 death from a surfeit of food. 



In a sense, crows and other omnivorous birds are more useful than 

 the purely insectivorous ones. Like the careful housewife, they live 

 upon whatever happens to be in season. If it be locusts, they have 

 locusts for breakfast, locusts for lunch, locusts for dinner. They 

 therefore form a highly efficient corps of reservists, ready at a mo- 

 ment's notice to wage war against insect invaders. 



THE ROSY STARLING. 



The rose-colored starling {Pastor roseus) spends the greater 

 part of the year in India, although it does not breed there. This bird 

 is said to commit " great depredations " in the cornfields, and, since 

 it collects in immense flocks preparatory to migration, the charge is 

 well founded. But we must not forget that the rosy starling feeds 

 also on grass seeds, insects, and wild fruit, especially the mulberry, 

 which grows without cultivation in India. In the United Provinces 

 it is called the Mulberry bird on account of its fondness for that fruit. 

 Chesney states that in Persia it is known as the " Locust bird." This 

 name speaks for itself, and shows that the bird is by no means an un- 

 mixed evil. On the evidence at present available I do not think we 

 are justified in setting down the rosy pastor as a foe to the husband- 

 man. It should be added that many natives of India eat it. 



