The Bobolink 235 
of locusts. The loss caused by the bobolinks in the 
rice fields of the South must amount annually to over 
two million dollars. A greater part of this loss is 
incurred directly by the maintaining of “bird-minders,” 
who patrol the fields from early morning until after 
sunset, firing guns and cracking the long lashes of 
whips. It is generally supposed that the firing of 
guns in the rice fields is for the purpose of killing 
the bobolinks, but, as the shot would destroy the 
rice, its object is simply to frighten the birds. Unless 
one has actually seen it, one cannot appreciate the 
amount of damage done by the bobolinks in the 
rice fields. To protect a hundred acres of rice from 
the bobolinks often costs from eighty to ninety 
dollars. 
Besides the “bird-minders,” other methods of pre- 
venting the ravages of the bobolinks have been tried, 
but thus far sooner or later all have failed. Among 
the various schemes probably the oldest and most often 
tried remedy is that of tarring the rice before it is sown. 
The tar on the rice is very distasteful to the birds, so 
that it has some effect in preventing the germinating 
rice from being pulled; but as the fields, except on the 
“uplands,” are flooded as soon as the rice is sown, the 
long soaking renders the tar less efficient. The flying 
of kites over the fields was at first looked upon as a 
