The Bronzed Crackle 145 



(the springtime), though he makes a sad failure in getting it 

 out. His voice always sounds as if he were laboring under a' 

 severe attack of influenza, though a large flock of them, heard 

 at a distance on a bright afternoon of early spring, produces 

 an effect not unpleasing. The air is filled with crackling, 

 spluttering, spurting, semi-musical sounds, which are like pep- 

 per and salt to the ear." And this reminds me that Lowell 

 wrote : 



"Fust comes the blackbirds clatt'rin in tall trees, 

 And settlin' things in windy congresses; 

 Queer politicians, though, for I'll be skinned 

 If all on 'em don't head against the wind." 



In regard to their economical value, Professor Beal in 

 his report upon The Crow Blackbirds and Their Food, says : 

 "In the selection of their food the crow blackbird is almost 

 omniverous. Its partiality for corn, wheat, rice, oats and 

 others grains is well known and has been the cause of nearly 

 all the complaints about its depredations. This diet is sup- 

 plemented by various fruits, berries, nuts, seeds and insects, 

 the latter in large proportion. When feeding on grain the 

 birds are usually in large flocks, their depredations are plain- 

 ly visible, and they are almost universally condemned. When 

 breeding they are less gregarious, and the good work they 

 do in the fields is scarcely noticed, although at this season the 

 grubs and other insects devoured compensate in a large meas- 

 ure for the grain taken by them." Wilson philosophically 

 says: "As some consolation, however, to the industrious cul- 

 tivator, I can assure him that were I placed in his situation, I 

 should hesitate whether to consider these birds most as 

 friends or enemies, as they are particularly destructive to al- 

 most all the noxious worms, grubs and caterpillars that infest 

 his fields, which, were they allowed to multiply, would soon 

 consume nine-tenths of all the production of his labor, and 

 desolate the country with the miseries of famine ! Is not this 

 another striking proof that Deity has created nothing in vain ; 

 and that it is the duty of man, the lord of creation, to avail 

 himself of their usefulness, and guard against their bad ef- 

 fects as surely as possible, without indulging in the barbar- 

 ous and even impious wish for their utter extinction?" 



