C. If. Merriam Birds of Connecticut. 47 



such person shall pay three pence for every blackbird that is wanting, 

 as aforesaid, for the use of the town."* 



Peter Kalra, in his " Travels into North America," thus speaks of 

 their depredations : " A species of birds, called by the Swedes, maize- 

 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 ground, and when it is ripe. 

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

 both described and drawn by Catesby.f Though they are very dif- 

 ferent in species, yet there is so great a friendship between them, that 

 they frequently accompany each other in mixed flocks. However, in 

 Pennsylvania, the first sort are more obvious, and often fly together 



without any of the red-winged stares Their chief and most 



agreeable food is maize. They come in great swarms in spring, soon 

 after the maize is put under ground. They scratch up the grains of 

 maize and eat them. As soon as the leaf comes out, they take hold 

 of it with their bills, and pluck it up, together with the corn or grain ; 

 and thus they give a great deal of trouble to the country people, 

 even so early in spring. To lessen their greediness of maize, some 

 people dip the grains of that plant in a decoct of the root of the 

 veratrum album, or white hellebore, (of which I shall speak in the 

 sequel), and plant them afterwards. When the maize-thief eats a 

 grain or two, which are so prepared, his head is disordered, and he 

 falls down : this frightens his companions, and they dare not venture 

 to the place again. But they repay themselves amply towards 

 autumn, when the maize grows ripe ; for at that time they are con- 

 tinually feeding. They assemble by thousands in the maize-fields, 

 and live at discretion. They are very bold ; for when they are dis- 

 turbed, they only go and settle in another part of the field. In that 

 manner, they always go from one end of the field to the other, and 

 do not leave it till they are quite satisfied. They fly in incredible 

 swarms in autumn ; and it can hardly be conceived whence such 

 immense numbers of them should come. When they rise in the air 

 they darken the sky, and make it look quite black. They are then 

 in such great numbers, and so close together, that it is suprising how 

 they find room to move their wings. I have known a person shoot a 

 great number of them on one side of a maize-field, which was far 

 from frightening the rest; for they only just took flight, and dropped 



* History of Lynn, by Alonzo Lewis and James R. Newhall, p. 298. 

 f See Catesby's Nat. Hist, of Carolina, vol. i, tabs. 12 and 13. 



