Vol. XX"| Trotter, f\'al>n''s Or)iithological Observcttioi/s. ^ ^^ 7 



get hay from Pennsylvania, and even from Old England. The 

 maize-thieves have enemies besides the human species. A species 

 of little hawks live upon them, and upon other little birds. I saw 

 some of these hawks driving up the maize-thieves, which were in 

 the greatest security, and catching them in the air. Nobody eats 

 the flesh of the purple maize-thieves or daws {Gracula quiscula)\ 

 but that of the red-winged maize-thieves, or stares {Oriolus 

 Phxniceus) is sometimes eaten, Some old people have told me, 

 that this part of Arnerica, formerly called Nezv Sweden., still con- 

 tained as many maize-thieves as it did formerly. The cause of 

 this they derive from the maize, which is now sown in much 

 greater quantity than formerly ; and they think that the birds can 

 get their food with more ease at present." (Eng. Trans., IT, pp. 



73-79-) 



The purple "maize-thieves" are apparently as abundant now, 



about Philadelphia, as they were in the time that Kalm wrote of 

 them. They come to us about the last of February, as Kalm 

 noted more than a century and a half ago, and during the early 

 autumn swarm in incredible numbers over the fields of standing 

 corn. One autumn blackbird roost that I have known of for 

 several years past, on the edge of a populous town, must contain 

 thousands of birds. The babel of voices from this roost at sun- 

 down is a sound never to be forgotten and falls on the distant ear 

 as a continuous roar. 



Bobolink. — In a journey up the Hudson during the month of 

 June, 1749, Kalm first saw the bobolink, as is attested by the fol- 

 lowing note : " The white-backed Maize-thieves appeared now and 

 then, flying amongst the bushes : their note is fine, and they are 

 not so large as the black maize-thieves {Oriohis Fhceniceus). We 

 saw them near New York, for the first time." (Eng. Trans., II, 

 p. 274.) 



Cardinal. — • At Raccoon, New Jersey, under date of February 

 14, 1749, Kalm has entered in his journal the following note: 

 ^^ Red-bird is another species of small bird. Catcshy has likewise 

 figured it. Dr. LinncBus calls it, Loxia Cardinalis. It belongs to 

 that class of birds which are enemies to bees, lying in wait for 

 them and eating them. I fed a cock for five months together in 

 a cage ; it eat both maize and buckwheat, for I gave it nothing 



