BOBOLINK (Dolichonyx oryzivorus). 



Length, about 7 inches. 

 Range: Breeds from Ohio northeast to Nova 

 Scotia, north to Manitoba, and northwest to Brit- 

 ish Columbia; winters in South America. 



Habits and economic status: When Ameri- 

 can writers awoke to the beauty and attractive- 

 ness of our native birds, among the first to be 

 enshrined in song and story was the bobolink. 

 Few Bpecies show such striking contrasts in the 

 color of the sexes, and few have songs more 

 unique and whimsical. In its northern home 

 the bird is loved for its beauty and its rich mel- 

 ody; in the South it earns deserved hatred by 

 its destructiveness. Bobolinks reach the south- 

 eastern coast of the United States the last half 

 of April just as rice is sprouting and at once 

 begin to pull up and devour the sprouting ker- 

 nels. Soon they move on to their northern 

 breeding grounds, where they feed upon insects, 

 weed seeds, and a little grain . When the young 

 are well on the wing, they gather in flocks with 

 the parent birds and gradualljr move southward, being then generally known as 

 reed birds. They reach the rice fields of the Carolinas about August 20, when 

 the rice is in the milk. Then until the birds depart for South America planters 

 and birds fight for the crop, and in spite of constant watchfulness and innumer- 

 able devices for scaring the birds a loss of 10 per cent of the rice is the usual 

 result. (See Biol. Sur\'ey Bui. 13, pp. 12-22.) 



COMMON CROW (Corvus brachyrhynchos). 



Length, 19 inches. 



Range: Breeds throughout the United States and most of Canada; winters gen- 

 erally m the United States. 



Habits and economic status: The general habits of the crow are universally 

 known. Its ability to commit such misdeeds as pulling com and stealing eggs 



and fruit and to get away unscathed is little 

 short of marvelous. Much of the crow's success 

 in life is due to cooperation, and the social in- 

 stinct of the species has its highest expression 

 in the winter roosts, which are sometimes fre- 

 quented by hundreds of thousands of crows. 

 From these roosts daily flights of many miles are 

 made in search of f6od. Injury to sprouting 

 com is the most frequent complaint against this 

 species, but by coating the seed grain with coal 

 tar most of this damage may be prevented. 

 Losses of poultry and eggs may be averted by 

 proper housing and the judicious use of wire 

 netting. The insect food of the crow includes 

 wireworms, cutworms, white grubs, and grass- 

 hoppers, and during outbreaks of these insects 

 the crow renders good service. The bird is also 

 an efficient scavenger. But chiefly because of 

 its destruction of beneficial wild birds and their 

 eggs the crow must be classed as a criminal, 

 and a reduction in its numbers in localities 

 where it is seriously destructive is justifiable. 

 (See Farmers' Bui. 54, pp. 22-23.) 



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