BED-WINGED BLACKBIRD 



97 



" Several years ago the beet fields in the vicin- 

 ity of Grand Island were threatened with great 

 injury by a certain caterpillar that had nearly 

 defoliated all the beets growing in many of them. 

 At about this time large flocks of this bird ap- 

 peared, and after a week's sojourn the caterpillar 

 plague had vanished." 



Throughout the summer the Red-wing feeds 

 largely on insects, and even while grain is still to 

 be had it begins to 

 eat weed seed, and 

 continues through 

 the winter serving 

 the farmer by de- 

 stroying such pests 

 as ragweed, fox- 

 tail grass and bind- 

 weed. In fact, sta- 

 tistics show that 57 

 per cent, of its to- 

 tal vegetable food 

 is composed of nox- 

 ious weeds, as against 13 per cent, of grain. In 

 the ricefields of the south, Doctor Fisher tells 

 us, the Red-wing does considerable good in winter 

 by eating the volunteer rice, which is degenerate 

 grain that has escaped from the cultivated squares 

 of rice. 



Besides having an economic interest in the Red- 

 wing, every bird-lover must be personally attracted 



FIG. 41. 

 Clover Leaf-beetle. 



