BIRDS OF INDIANA. 885 



Most persons are disposed to note losses oftener and remember them 

 longer than benefits. It is found to eat many insects. May beetles, 

 June-bugs and noxious beetles, and quantities of them, are fed to their 

 young. Grasshoppers are eaten all summer, but form the bulk of 

 their food in August. 



Besides these, many bugs, caterpillars, cutworms, and spiders, etc., 

 are eaten. Of the insect food, Mr. E. A. Schwarz says: "The facts, on 

 the whole, speak overwhelmingly in favor of the Crow." I have else- 

 where (Bulletin 12, Div. of Ent., U. S. Dept. of Agr., 1886, p. 30) 

 noted their eating 17-year cicadas (Cicada septendecim), and their 

 eating all the tomato worms in a badly-infested tomato field, near 

 Indianapolis (Trans. Ind. Hort. Soc., 1890, appendix c, p. 65). I am 

 also informed of their coming in numbers into a timothy meadow 

 which was practically destroyed by the larvae of some insects and going 

 over it thoroughly, tearing up the grass, roots and all, and destroying 

 the insects. When they had finished the field was described as look- 

 ing like a great flock of poultry had scratched it all over, but no insects 

 could be found. In addition to the insects eaten, it was found that 

 mice rank fourth in quantity in the items of animal food. For this, 

 they must be given credit. It is thought in the more thickly-settled 

 portions of the country that the crow does more good than harm, and 

 if precautions are taken to protect the nests and young poultry and 

 corn, its damage would not be of any considerable consequence. 



XXXIX. FAMILY ICTERID^E. BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC. 



a 1 . Outlines of bill nearly or quite straight; the tip not evidently curved down- 

 ward ; the cutting edges not turned inward. Subfamily ICTERIN^:. 

 6 1 . Bill stout, conical, its depth at base equal to at least one-third its length ; 



sexes unlike; female smaller. 



c 1 . Tail feathers sharp pointed ; middle toe with claw longer than tarsus ; bill 



shorter than head ; finch like. DOLICHONYX. 110 



c 2 . Tail feathers not pointed at tips; middle toe with claw not longer than 



tarsus. 



d l . Bill much shorter than head; finch like. MOLOTHRUS. Ill 



d 2 . Bill about as long as head. 



e 1 - Claws of side toes about half as long as middle claw, reaching little if 

 any beyond base of middle claw. AGELAIUS. 113 



e 2 . Claws of side toes much more than half as long as middle claw, reach- 

 ing much beyond base of middle claw. XANTHOCEPHALUS. 112 

 b 2 . Bill slender, its depth at base scarcely one-third its length. 



f l . Tail less than two-thirds length of wing, its feathers pointed; bill 



longer than head; sexes similar. STURNELLA. 114 



/ 2 . Tail nearly as long as wing, its feathers not pointed; bill shorter 



than head; sexes not similar. IOTERITS. 115 



