48 



CIVIC BIOLOGY 



these are near the hives. This is a good problem to have thoroughly 

 worked up in any neighborhood in which bees are kept. 



Family Alaudida (alauda, "a lark ) larks. Horned lark Of<x'<>- 

 ris alpextris. For open fields and prairies this is a valuable bird, as it 



eats great quantities of weed 

 seeds and insects. 



Family Corvidcz (corvus, "a 

 crow") crows, jays, American 

 magpie. Blue jay Cyanocitta 

 cristdta. This bird has an odious 

 reputation for robbing other 

 birds of their eggs and young. 

 Study the bird for yourself, and 

 before inflicting capital punish- 

 ment decide whether the jav is 

 good or bad for the locality. 



American crow Cdrvus 

 brachyrhynchos. The worst crime 

 of the crow is also nest robbing. 

 (I have known a pair to empty 

 two robins' nests of seven young 

 as a single, perhaps partial, 

 breakfast.) 



Family IcteridcE (icteros, "a yel- 

 low bird ") blackbirds, orioles, 

 etc. Cowbird Molothrux dtar. 

 This bird is a parasite and com- 

 pels other species, generally 

 warblers, vireos, and sparrows, 

 smaller than itself, to brood and 

 rear its young at the expense 

 of their own. Cowbirds' eggs 



h 



. 23. Junco's nest in 

 Mr. Herbert Parker, 



Massachusetts 



the aviary 

 Lancaster, 



should be removed from the nests of other birds whenever found. 



Bobolink Dolickonyx oryzioorus. In the Xorth this bird is appre- 

 ciated as one of our most fascinating meadow songsters, if it is not at 

 the head of the list. In the South it is the destructive ricebird. 



Bronzed grackle Qimcalus quiscula ce.neus. 

 Red-winged blackbird Ageldius phceniceus. 

 Meadow lark Sturnella mdgna. 

 Baltimore oriole icterus ydllula. 



