THE CROW-BLACKBIRD BRANCH 111 
it isn’t so easy to keep them away. The birds 
eat great numbers of them, such as grasshoppers, 
caterpillars, beetles, and cut-worms, besides mice. 
All these creatures eat the farmers’ crops. So 
when birds destroy them, they earn some of the 
corn. They do more than clear the fields of trou- 
blesome insects, they eat great quantities of the 
seeds of weeds that the farmer is always fighting. 
Blackbirds are most often seen on the ground, 
walking around with great dignity. They are 
looking for food in the grass, or in the field in 
ploughing time. When they are closely watched, 
it is often found that they are not in mischief. 
Mr. Warren, State Ornithologist of Pennsyl- 
vania, tells a story which shows how easy it is 
to be mistaken. He was with a friend who had 
thirty acres of corn growing, and was much 
vexed to see blackbirds walking about among the 
young plants. They seemed very busy about 
something, and he was sure they were pulling 
up his crop. So he got out his guns, and Mr. 
Warren went with him to punish the birds. 
They shot thirty-one of them. Then they be- 
gan to see what they had been eating. Inall the 
thirty-one, only seven had the least bit of corn, 
and even they were mostly filled with sects. 
The rest were stuffed full of insects which do 
much harm to young corn, mostly cut-worms. 
