13 



than themselves makes it necessary that they should be destroyed when 

 take up their residence about our gardens, for it is there, and in our cultivated 

 fields, that our insectivorous birds do the most good, and to get them there we 

 must give them as much protection as possible from their natural enemies, and 

 teach them that they are in greater safety near our dwellings than they would 

 be in the woods. Birds of all kinds soon lose their fear of man if unmolested by 

 him, and particularly if they find that in his immediate neighborhood they can 

 raise their young safely. I know of several farms and large gardens where birds 

 have been encouraged and protected from their enemies ; to these places they 

 return in increased numbers year after year, until nearly all available breeding 

 places are taken up. On these premises the owners rarely suffer from the 

 depredations of cut worms or other insects, and so find themselves well repaid for 

 the little care they require to exercise on behalf of their feathered friends. 



Bronze Grackle, better known throughout the country as the " crow black- 

 bird," is, when in full plumage, a very handsome bird, and may be distinguished 

 from the other so-called blackbirds by its large size and the brilliant metallic 

 lustre of its feathers. Like the Rook of Europe, it breeds in colonies, and is gre- 

 garious at all times of the year. To the farmer, the fruit grower and the lover 

 of birds generally, this bird is a nuisance ; all that can be said in its favour is, 

 that it is very beautiful and that it does, at times, eat a Jarge number of cut 

 worms, for which it may often be seen working industriously on the lawns and 

 grass fields near its nesting place, but as against that it has a heavy record of 

 crimes to answer for. They are early migrants, arriving here about the end of 

 March and resorting at once to their nesting places. From this time until the 

 oats are sown they probably feed entirely on insects, but as soon as the grain is 

 in the ground they visit the newly sown fields and help themselves liberally, 

 varying their diet by taking as many small birds' eggs and young as they can 

 conveniently get at. I have on several occasions seen them attack and carry off 

 young Robins, in spite of the vigorous defence set up by the victim's parents and 

 all the friends they could summon to their assistance. The row made by the 

 despoiled nest owners on these occasions, together with the frantic dashes they 

 made at the robber, would be sufficient to shake the nerves of one of the hawk 

 family, but the Crow blackbird disregards it all, and goes off with its prey. 



As soon as the strawberries, cherries, etc., are ripe these birds display a fond- 

 ness for fruit, and a persistency in gratifying it, that is maddening to the fruit 

 grower, whose profits dwindle day by day by reason of the visits of these thieves, 

 who will continue to carry it off until the young leave the nest. When the young 

 Grackles can fly they gather in large flock's and roam about the country all day, 

 roosting together in vast numbers in some marsh every night. The Dundas 

 marsh, near Hamilton, used to be much favored by them for this purpose ; it is 

 at this season they do the worst of their mischief to the fields of wheat and oats. 

 Not only do they eat an immense quantity, but as they flutter and struggle in 

 their efforts to balance themselves upon the straw of the standing grain, they 

 thresh out and cause the loss of much more. Nor does the cutting and shocking 

 stop their ravages : they still continue to feed upon it, until the last sheaf is in 

 the barn In the Province of Manitoba where these birds are abundant, I have 

 seen all the grain threshed out from the ears for a space of ten yards in width, 

 round fields which had been selected by them for their feeding ground. In this 

 Province they are rarely to be found in sufficient numbers to do as much damage 

 as that, nor are they likely to become so, for although their chief natural enemies, 

 the hawks and owls, have been too much reduced to be able to keep them entirely 

 in check, yet their number is still manageable and may be kept so by the judicious 



