THE BLACKBIRDS AND ORIOLES 



G73 



So much then for the birds that are usually considered 

 game birds. Of the others which are sometimes or in 

 some places so regarded we will consider only the bobo- 

 link upon which even the federal law places an open sea- 

 son. In the first place, is it good to eat? Yes, like the 

 nightingale tongues of the ancient Romans, it is said to be 

 quite a delicacy. In the second place, does it require skill 

 to secure it ? Emphatically no ; the gunner merely shoots 

 into a flock, flying or sitting, and chance rather than skill 

 determines the number he kills. Have they any other 

 value ? Most assuredly, yes ; while their fall plumage is 

 nothing but an obscure yellowish brown and their song is 

 silent, no bird is more beautiful or more welcome about 

 clover fields in June. With his striking black and white 

 markings and his rollicking song, he has inspired the poets 

 and is the friend of all. 



" Merrily swinging on brier and weed, 

 Near to the nest of his little dame, 

 Over the mountain-side or mead, 

 Robert of Lincoln is telling his name." 



Again during the spring and summer the bobolink is 

 almost entirely insectivorous and of great value in destroy- 

 ing grasshoppers, army worms, and other pests of the 

 fields. The accompanying photograph shows the male bird 

 near its nest and in its bill one can see two army worms 

 and a small grasshopper, speaking for the inestimable 

 value of the bird. We can truly say, then, that the great- 

 est value of the bobolink is not as a game bird and that it 

 should be removed from the game list. The same is true 

 of blackbirds, robins, meadowlarks, flickers, and the 

 majority of other birds, not already considered, that one 

 occasionally sees listed as game. 



In the December issue we will consider the propagation 

 of game birds and see what it means for the game of 

 our country. 



The writer desires to state that as readers of Ameri- 

 can Forestry frequently desire to ask questions regard- 

 ing birds, he hopes they will not hesitate to do so as he will 

 be glad to answer them. Inquiries should be addressed 

 to the Editor of American Forestry and a reply will 

 be sent promptly. 



The Blackbirds and Orioles 



(Family Icterida) 



IF birds were classified by their colors or by their habits, 

 this family would have to be divided into many, so 

 divergent are various members which compose it. There 

 are over one hundred and fifty species in the family, all 

 of them confined to the new world, but only nineteen are 

 found north of Mexico. Some of them are dull-colored 

 and some are very strikingly marked, but all are similar in 

 having strong, perching feet, tails of twelve feathers, 

 pointed wings, and bills that extend backward dividing 

 the feathers of the forehead and leaving the nostrils 

 exposed and not concealed by bristles. To this family 

 belong the well-known blackbirds, many of which show 

 brilliant red or yellow patches, the orioles, which are 

 perhaps our most gorgeous birds, the black and white 

 bobolink with his finch-like mate, and the aberrant 

 meadow lark that has taken on the streaked back pattern 

 of the sparrows and the terrestrial habits of the true larks. 

 As a family they are nearly omnivorous feeders, taking 

 seeds, insects, and fruits. During the summer they all 

 feed upon insects and are extremely valuable birds, but 

 during the fall the many species of blackbirds assemble 

 in large flocks and often do considerable damage. 



Of the blackbirds, the red-winged or swamp black- 

 bird, the cowbird, and the grackle or crow blackbird are 

 the commonest and the best known. The redwing hangs 

 its nest in the bushes or reeds of the marshes but after 

 the nesting season visits the upland in large flocks to 

 feed. The female is streaked gray and black and lacks 

 the scarlet shoulders of the male. The cowbird is found 

 about pastures following the cattle. It builds no nest of 

 its own, but, like the European cuckoo, lays its egg in the 

 nest of a smaller bird and lets that bird hatch the egg and 

 rear the young. The male is black with a brown head, the 



female uniformly grayish. The grackle is larger than 

 either of the two former, uniform black with metallic 

 reflections and with a long tail that it holds boat-shaped 

 when it flies. It walks around the lawns in our parks, nests 

 in a variety of locations but more often in the tops of tall 

 evergreens where also in the fall large roosts often assem- 

 ble. During the spring and summer blackbirds are almost 



A MEADOWLARK AT ITS NEST 

 The meadowlark is an aberrant member of the family, for it has taken on the 

 streaked back pattern of the sparrows and the terrestrial habits of the larks. 

 The meadowlark has the same characteristic bill as the Baltimore oriole. 



