The Bobolink 



231 



of locusts. The loss caused by the bobolinks in the 

 rice fields of the South must amount annually to over 

 two million dollars. A greater part of this loss is 

 incurred directly by the maintaining of "bird-minders," 

 who patrol the fields from early morning until after 

 sunset, firing guns and cracking the long lashes of 

 whips. It is generally supposed that the firing of 

 guns in the rice fields is for the purpose of killing 

 the bobolinks, but, as the shot would destroy the 

 rice, its object is simply to frighten the birds. Unless 

 one has actually seen it, one cannot appreciate the 

 amount of damage done by the bobolinks in the 

 rice fields. To protect a hundred acres of rice from 

 the bobolinks often costs from eighty to ninety 

 dollars. 



Besides the "bird-minders,'* other methods of pre- 

 venting the ravages of the bobolinks have been tried, 

 but thus far sooner or later all have failed. Among 

 the various schemes probably the oldest and most often 

 tried remedy is that of tarring the rice before it is sown. 

 The tar on the rice is very distasteful to the birds, so 

 that it has some effect in preventing the germinating 

 rice from being pulled ; but as the fields, except on the 

 "uplands," are flooded as soon as the rice is sown, the 

 long soaking renders the tar less efficient. The flying 

 of kites over the fields was at first looked upon as a 



