100 SINGING BIRDS. 



at this time made among them by the gun and the Hawks pro- 

 duces but little effect upon the remainder, who continue fear- 

 lessly, and in spite of all opposition, from morning to night 

 to ravage the cornfields while anything almost remains to be 

 eaten. The farms near the sea-coast, or alluvial situations, 

 however, are their favorite haunts; and towards the close of 

 September, the corn becoming hard, it is at length rejected for 

 the seeds of the wild rice i^Zizania aqiiaiica) and other aquatic 

 plants, which now begin to ripen, and afford a more harmless 

 and cheap repast to these dauntless marauders. At this time^ 

 also, they begin to roost in the reeds, whither they repair in 

 large flocks every evening from all the neighboring quarters of 

 the country ; upon these they perch or cling, so as to obtain a 

 support above the surrounding waters of the marsh. When 

 the reeds become dry, advantage is taken of the circumstance 

 to destroy these unfortunate gormandizers by fire ; and those 

 who might escape the flames are shot down in vast numbers as 

 they hover and scream around the spreading conflagration. 

 Early in November they generally leave the Northern and 

 colder States, with the exception of straggling parties, who 

 still continue to glean subsistence, in the shelter of the sea- 

 coast, in Delaware, Maryland, and even in the cold climate of 

 the State of Massachusetts.^ 



To those who seem inclined to extirpate tliese erratic depre- 

 dators, Wilson justly remarks, as a balance against the damage 

 they commit, the service they perform in the spring season, by 

 the immense number of insects and their larvae which they 

 destroy, as their principal food, and which are of kinds most 

 injurious to the husbandman. Indeed, Kalm remarked that 

 after a great destruction made among these and the common 

 Blackbirds for the legal reward of 3 pence a dozen, the 

 Northern States, in 1749, experienced a complete loss of the 

 grass and grain crops, which were now devoured by insects. 



Like the Troopial {Orio/us icterus, Lath.), the Redwing 

 shows attachment and docility in confinement, becoming, like 



1 My friend Mr. S. Green, of Boston, assures me that he has seen these birds 

 near Newton, in a cedar-swamp, in January. 



