2^6 Tkotter, /u^/w'.s' OrnifJ/ologicdl Observations. f t"i'^ 



daws which the English call Blackbirds [a foot-nole speaks of them 

 as ''''Properly shining l>lackl>irds"'\ and tlie Sivedes Maize thieves. 

 Dr. Linnceus calls them Gracula QuiscuIaP (Kng- Trans., I, p. 

 291.) 



Under date of February 23, 1749, at Raccoon, New Jersey, is a 

 lengthy account of blackbirds, in which the author, among other 

 observations, calls attention to the following : 



"A species of birds, called by the Swedes, ?naize-thieves, do the 

 greatest mischief in this country. They have given them that 

 name, because they eat maize, both publicly and secretly, just 

 after it is sown and covered with the ground, and when it is ripe. 

 The English call them blackbirds. There are two species of them, 

 both described and drawn by Catesby. Though they are very 

 different in species, yet there is so great a friendship between 

 them, that they frequently accompany each other in mixed flocks. 

 However, in Pefinsylvania, the first sort are more obvious, and 

 often fly together, without any of the red-winged stares. ... As 

 they are so destructive to maize, the odium of the inhabitants 

 against them is carried so far, that the laws of Pennslyvania and 

 New jfersey have settled a premium of three-pence a dozen for 

 dead maize thieves. In New England., the people are still greater 

 enemies to them; for Dr. Franklin [Benjamin Franklin] told me, 

 in the spring of the year 1750, that, by means of the premiums 

 which have been settled for killing them in New England., they 

 have been so extirpated, that they are very rarely seen, and in a 

 few places only. But as, in the summer of the year 1749, an 

 immense quantity of worms appeared in the meadows, which 

 devoured the grass, and did great damage, the people have 

 abated their enmity against the maize-thieves ; for they thought 

 they had observed, that those birds lived chiefly on these worms 

 before the maize is ripe, and consequently extirpated them, or at 

 least prevented their spreading too much. They seem therefore 

 to be entitled, as it were, to a reward for their trouble. But after 

 these enemies and destroyers of the worms (the maize-thieves) 

 were extirpated, the worms were more a,t liberty to multiply ; and 

 therefore they grew so numerous, that they did more mischief now 

 than the birds did before. In the summer, 1749, the worms left 

 so little hay in New Engla/id, that the inhabitants were forced to 



