THE OOLOGIST 



83 



of this species been seen in this sec- 

 tion after July 28th. At points fur- 

 ther south in the state they have been 

 seen as late as September 10th, but at 

 these points, as was mentioned before, 

 they are purely transient and never re- 

 main more than a few days at any one 

 time. 



Louis S. Kohler. 

 Bloomfield, N. J. 



The Red-Winged Blackbird. 



(Agelaius Phoeniceus.) 

 On going out into the meadows in 

 early April we will see a bird about 

 9-91/^ inches long. It is black in color 

 and has a peculiar red on its wings. 

 This is the Red-winged Blackbird. It 

 is also called Swamp Blackbird, Red- 

 winged Oriole, and Red-winged Star- 

 ling. It belongs to the family of Black- 

 birds and Orioles and is to be found al- 

 ways near swamps and ponds. The fe- 

 male is brownish-black above and 

 streaked below. 



This bird like all of its family has a 

 heavy bill, showing that it eats grain 

 and hard foods. And so it does. In 

 spring when the grains have been 

 planted and a few have fallen to the 

 ground, it picks them up and eats 

 them.. It indeed tastes good and the 

 wise bird knows that there are some 

 more kernels covered with ground. It 

 immediately scratches away the soil 

 with its feet and finds the planted 

 grains. In early fall, however, it lives 

 almost entirely on insects, and es- 

 pecially the most dangerous ones. Be- 

 cause of its eating some grain it is 

 looked upon by the farmer as his 

 enemy, and will be shot by him when- 

 ever it is possible, but, when it can- 

 not get grain, it will eat beetles, 

 worms, and insects, and is thus very 

 useful to the farmer. An investiga- 

 tion was made and of 1,083 stomachs 

 examined, they cotnained the follow- 

 ing: 



Vegetable matter 74% 



Harmful beetles 10% 



Snout beetles 4% 



Grasshoppers 5% 



Animal matter (mainly insects) . .26%, 

 The remainder were empty. < 



"So far as the insect food as a whole 

 is concerned the Red-winged Blackbird 

 may be considered entirely beneficial." 



The nest of the Red-winged Black- 

 bird is mostly in swamps about two 

 feet from the ground. If there are no 

 cattails in the neighborhood it will 

 select a small bush near a pond and 

 will build its nest in the interior of 

 the bush. Very seldom is the nest 

 placed on the ground. It is made of 

 woven grasses and is built compact. 



This bird is a very sociable one, and 

 therefore, it breeds in colonies. In 

 many cattail swamps one can find from 

 ten to twenty-five nests. The four to 

 five bluish eggs have white scrambled 

 chiefly around the large end with 

 brownish-black. While the female is 

 incubating the eggs the male is on 

 some nearby fence, post or on a tree 

 top on the watch. The female will 

 leave the nest at the first warning. 



The song of the Red-winged Black- 

 bird is rather harsh. It is "Wa-her- 

 ee," or "con-quer-ee." The notes are 

 uttered only when the bird is up high, 

 as on a fence post or in a tree top, and 

 when we hear it we can be sure that 

 the nest is not far off. It also cries 

 its calls while flying. 



It breeds east of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains from Texas to Manitoba and New 

 Brunswick. Now, that we know, that 

 this bird is a very beautiful one and 

 that it is more useful than harmful, it 

 is self understood that we ought to 

 protect it whenever we can. We must 

 bear in mind, that there is many a 

 harmful and wreched man among us, 

 and we do not shoot him or try to take 

 his life, then, why should we take the 

 life of our neighbor the Red-winged 



