170 



Birds of Pennsylvania. 



The Red-wing, like the Crow Bhickbird, destroys large numbers of 

 ''cut-worms." I have taken from the stomach of a single Swamp 

 Blackbird as many as twenty-eight "cut- worms." In addition to the 

 insects, etc., mentioned above, these birds also, during their residence 

 with us, feed on earth worms, grasshoppers, crickets and plant-lice, 

 and various larvae, so destructive at times in the field and garden. 

 During the summer season, fruits of the blackberry, raspberry, wild 

 strawberry, and wild cherry are eaten to a more or less extent. The 

 young, while under parental care, are fed exclusively on an insect 

 diet. 



Dr. Coues, writing of this species, says : " From its general disper- 

 sion in low or wet thickets or fields, swamps and marshes, the black- 

 bird collects in August and Sej)tember in immense flocks, thronging 

 tlie extensive tracts of wild oats and other aquatic plants in marshes 

 and along water-courses, also visiting and doing much damage to grain- 

 fields. Thousands are destroyed by boys and pot-hunters, but the 

 hosts scarcely diminish, and every known artifice fails to protect the 

 crops from invasion of the dusky hordes. At other seasons the 

 'maize-thief is innocuous, if not positively beneficial, as it destroys 

 its share of insects." — Cones' Key^j)- ^^^- Ii^ tlie rice-growing States 

 the Red-winged Blackbird ranks next to the Reed-bird in its ravages 

 on the rice fields, Theo. S. Wilkinson^ Myrtle-grove plantation^ lower 



