392 RELATIONS OF BIRDS TO AGRICULTURE 



bird lovers, after a winter devoid of feathered singers. The posi- 

 tion taken by the bird in uttering its characteristic note or notes 

 discloses to advantage its scarlet shoulders, well set off by glossy 

 black wings, body, and tail (Fig. 386). The grayish-brown female, 

 streaked with black, we may not notice, but the male compels 

 attention. 



Food Habits. The United States Department of Agriculture 

 has made an exhaustive study of this bird's food habits and finds 

 about seven-eighths of its diet consists of harmful insects and weed 



FIG. 386. Red-winged blackbird. (After Fuertes.) 



seeds. Locally, when in large flocks, as above intimated, this and 

 other blackbirds may be very harmful. A resort to extreme 

 measures on the part of the farmer is then justified. 



Further observations of experts are interesting. For example, 

 in the case of the red-winged blackbird, in 1083 stomachs examined, 

 weed seeds comprised fifty-four per cent of the contents, grain, 

 thirteen per cent, grasshoppers (in August), seventeen per cent, 

 caterpillars, twenty per cent in March, and beetles, ten per cent. 

 In 138 stomachs of the yellow-headed blackbird insects comprised 



