1853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



299 



For the New England Farmer. 

 BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND. 



THEIR PAST AND PRESENT HISTORY No. 5. 



BY S. P. FOWLER. 

 OMNIVOROUS BIRDS, 



The American Starling or Meadow Lark, is a 

 bird, well known in New England, and often seen 

 in our old fields and meadows. It is a shy bird, 

 with a plaintive, agreeable note, and perfectly 

 harmless in its habits, feeding upon insects, 



the whole of North America, and is found in the 

 greatest abundance. It is probably one of our 

 most mischievous birds, and many suppose that 

 very little can be said in its favor, to recommend 

 it to the protection of the farmer. But we shall 

 find when we are better acquainted with the hab- 

 its of the Red-wings, that the benefits derived 

 from them much more than counterbalance tl e 

 mischief they occasion. Mr Wilson, the ornithol- 

 ogist, who appears to have noticed with care the 

 habits of the bird, under consideration, as they 



worms, beetles, the seed's of grifss and weeds.— appeared to him in theMiddle States, says, "they 



There is no bird that can better claim the pro- 

 tection of the farmer, than the meadow lark. 



The Baltimore Oriole, or Golden Robin, is a 

 beautiful and interesting bird. With us they are 

 only a summer resident ; leaving us in autumn, 

 they pass on through the States, to Mexico, where 

 they remain in flocks through the winter. They 

 arrive witli us in the latter part of May, when our 

 fruit trees are in blossom, and, by their beautiful 

 appearance and mellow notes, add much to the 

 gaiety of the season. They are particularly fond 

 of hanging their pensile nests, to the drooping 

 limbs of the white elm, and spend the breeding 

 season in the vicinity of gardens and orchards ; 

 and we always associate these brilliant birds, and 

 their whistling trumpet-notes, with a lovely, qui- 

 et summer's day, in leafy June, when the very at- 

 mosphere is fragrant with flowers. The Golden 

 Robin feeds principally upon insects, during the 

 spring and summer months, and later in the season 

 it subsists on fruits and seeds. Mr. Audubon says 

 they feed on cherries, mulberries and strawber- 

 ries, but this is not in accordance with our own 

 observation. They sometimes attack the pea 

 vines, for the purpose of obtaining the grub of the 

 pea bug, which is found therein, and not for the 

 love of the pea, as has been erroneously supposed. 

 These birds certainly deserve the protection of 

 farmers and horticulturists. 



We are now about to notice one of our most 

 mischievous birds, the Red-winged Blackbird. He 

 has long been known to the farmer as a sad thief, 

 and was regarded by the Indians as a trouble- 

 some fellow, long before he was known to us. — 

 And here, with the permission of the reader, we 

 will step aside, and turn back for the purpose of 

 relating the past history of the blackbird, as found 

 in Roger Williams' Key to the Indian Language, 

 published in 16-13, and to furnish an account of 

 the method pursued by the Indians, to protect 

 their corn from the depredations of these birds. — 

 Mr. Williams says "of the black-birds, there be 

 millions, which are great devourers of the Indian 

 corn, as soon as it appears out of the ground ; un- 

 to this sort of birds, especially, may tiie mysticall 

 Fowles, the Divells be well remembered [and so 

 it pleaseth the Lord Jesus himselfe, to observe 

 Matthew 13] which mysticall Fowle follow the 

 sowing of the word, and pick it up from loose and 

 carelesse hearers as these black-birds follow the 

 material seed. Against these birds, the Indians 

 are very careful!, both to set their corne deep 

 enough, that it may have a strong root, not so 

 apt to be pluckt up [not too deep, lest they bury 

 it, arid it never comes up :] as also they put up 

 little watch-houses in the middle of their fields, in 

 which thoy, or their biggest children lodge, and 

 early in the morning prevent the birds," &c. 

 The Red-winged blackbird is a summer resident in 



arrive in Pennsylvania late in March. Their gen- 

 eral food at this season, as well as durrng the 

 early part of summer consists of grub worms, cat- 

 erpillars, and various other larva, the silent, but 

 deadly enemies of all vegetation, and whose secret 

 and insiduous attacks are more to be dreaded by 

 tne husbandman, than the combined forces of the 

 whole feathered tribes together. For these ver- 

 min, the Red-winged Blackbirds search with dili- 

 gence ; in the ground, at the roots of plants, in 

 orchards and meadows, as well as among buds, 

 leaves and blossoms, and from their known vorac- 

 ty, the multitudes of these insects which they de- 

 stroy must be immense. Let me illustrate this, 

 by a short computation. 



If we suppose each bird on an average, to de- 

 vour fifty of these larva in a day [a very moderate 

 allowance] a single pair in four months, the usual 

 time such food is sought after, will consume up- 

 wards of twelve thousand. It is believed, that 

 not less than a million pair of these birds are dis- 

 tributed over the whole extent of the United States 

 in summer, whose food being nearly the same, 

 would swell the amount of vermin destroyed, to 

 twelve thousand millions. But the number of 

 young birds may be fairly estimated at double 

 that of their parents ; and as these are constantly 

 fed on larva for at least three weeks, making only 

 the same allowance for them as for the old ones, 

 their share would amount to four thousand two 

 hundred millions ; making a grand total of sixteen 

 thousand two hundred millions of noxious insects 

 destroyed in the space of four months by this single 

 species ! The combined ravages of such a hideous 

 host of vermin would be sufficient to spread fam- 

 ine and desolation over a wide extent of the rich- 

 est and best cultivated country on earth. 



All this, it may be said, is mere supposition. — 

 It is, however, supposition founded on known 

 and acknowledged facts. "I have," continued 

 Mr. Wilson, "never dissected any of these birds 

 in spring, without receiving the most striking and 

 satisfactory proofs of these facts ; and though in a 

 matter of this kind, it is impassible to ascertain 

 precisely the amount of the benefits derived by ag- 

 riculture from this and many other species of our 

 birds, yet in the present case, I cannot resist the 

 belief that the services of this species, in spring, 

 are far more important and beneficial than the val- 

 ue of all that portion of corn which a careful and 

 active farmer permits himself to lose by it. Mr. 

 Audubon, who was perhaps better acquainted with 

 the habits of our birds than any other perscm, 

 says the Red-winged Blackl)ird is so well known 

 as being a bird of the most nefarious propensities, 

 that in "the United States one can hardly mention 

 its name, without hearing such an account of its 

 pilferings as might induce the young student in 

 nature to conceive that it had been created for the 



