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 Alaudid<z (alauda, "a lark ")— larks. Horned hn-k — Otoco- 

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



eats great quantities of weed 

 seeds and insects. 



Family Corvidcs. (corvus, " a 

 crow") — crows, jays, American 

 magpie. Blue jay — Cyanocitta 

 cristdta. This bird has an odiou s 

 reputation for robl)ing other 

 birds of their eggs and young. 

 Study the bird for yourself, and 

 before inflicting capital jjunish- 

 nient decide whether the jay is 



good or l)ad for the locality. 



American crow — Corrus 

 /'/•achf/rh/'/nchos. The worst crime 

 of the crow is also nest robbina. 

 (I have known a })air to empty 

 tw^o robins' nests of seven younir 

 as a single, perhaps i)artial, 

 breakfast.) 



Family Icterid<£ (icteros, "a yel- 

 low bird") — blackbirds, orioles, 

 etc. Cowbird — Md/othnis dff r. 

 This bird is a jiarasite and com- 

 ]>els othin- species, generally 

 warblers, vireos, and sparrows, 

 smaller than itself, to brood and 

 rear its young at the exi:)ense 

 of their own. Cowbirds' eggii 

 should be removed from the nests of other })irds w^henever found. 



P>obolink — Dollrlidnyx oryzworus. In the Xorth this l)ird 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 — Qntscalus qniscuUi (fiieus. 

 Ked-winged blackbird — Ageldius phoeniceus. 

 Meadow lark — Sturnella nidr/na. 

 Baltimore oriole — Icterus ydlbida. 



Fig. 23. Junco's nest in the aviary 



of Mr. Herbert Parker, Lancaster, 



Massachusetts 



