226 



Nature- Study Agriculture 



Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 



FIG. 179. A red-winged blackbird (male). It feeds mostly on weed seeds 

 and harmful insects. With the draining of the marshes in which it breeds, 

 this bird is becoming less common. 



One pair of wrens are reported to have taken more than 

 six hundred insects to their young in a day, and a pair of 

 grosbeaks fed eight hundred insects to their growing 

 family within eleven hours. The robin often brings 

 condemnation upon itself by destroying fruit in the 

 orchard ; but by devouring insects, especially when 

 nesting, it does very much to make up for any loss it 



