FIRST-COMERS. 51 



when the parents proceed to the production of another 

 brood. 



These blackbirds have the bump of domesticity largely 

 developed, and if their household is disturbed they make a 

 terrible fuss, calling upon all nature to witness their sor- 

 row and execrate the wretch that is violating their privacy. 



During all the spring season, and particularly while the 

 young are being provided for, the redwings subsist almost 

 exclusively on w r orms, grubs, caterpillars, and a great varie- 

 ty of such sluggish insects, and their voracious larvae, as 

 do damage to the roots and early sprouts of whatever the 

 farmer plants ; nor do they abandon this diet until the ripen- 

 ing of the wild -rice and maize in the fall. "For these 

 vermin," says Wilson, "the starlings search with great dili- 

 gence in the ground, at the roots of plants in orchards and 

 meadows, as well as among buds, leaves, and blossoms; and 

 from their known voracity the multitudes of these insects 

 which they destroy must be immense. Let me illustrate 

 this fact by a short computation : If w r e suppose each bird 

 on an average to devour fifty of these larvae in a day (a 

 very moderate allowance), a single pair in four months, the 

 usual time such food is sought after, will devour upward of 

 12,000. It is believed that not less than a million pairs of 

 these birds are distributed over the whole extent of the 



