APPENDIX II. — AUGHEY ON LOCUST-FEEDING BIRDS. [35] 



Icterus Baltimore, (Liun.) Daud. 



Baltimore Oriole; Golden EoUn ; Hangnest. 



Common all over Eastern Nebraska where there is woodland or orchard. I have 

 never opened the stomach of one of these hirds. In fact, I have never been able to 

 bring myself to shoot one even for scientific purposes. But in the spring of 1865 I 

 watched two old birds feeding their young near Dakota City, and again in Lincoln in 



1873. In the first case, the old birds brought their young a great many locusts. They 

 Hew from the low cottonwood, where their hangnest was fastened, to a neighboring 

 field every few minutes. In this field, locusts were abundant, and these they picked 

 \\\) and carried to their nests, and every time seemed to swallow some themselves. I 

 ascertained this by watching them by the hour. 



Icterus bullocki, (Sw.) Bp. 



BullocWs Oriole. 



This bird is also frequently seen in Nebraska. I found one eating locusts in August, 

 187 1, on the Republican River, in Southwestern Nebraska. One that I opened in Dixon 

 County, Nebraska, in June, 1865, had 35 locusts, 3 beetles, and some seeds in its stomach. 

 It seems to be most abundant in the wooded portions toward the western end of the 

 State. 



SCOLECOPHAGUS FERRUGINEUS, (Gm.) Sw. 



Busty GracMe. 

 This species abounds in early spring and in the last of September and October dur- 

 ing its migrations. Have seen no sign of its breeding in Nebraska. It is a great insect- 

 eater. In October, 1874, 1 opened a number of these birds in Lancaster County, and a 

 few in Richardson Countj^. The stomachs in each instance were crowded with insects, 

 four-fifths of which were locusts, and a few seeds. 



SCOLECOPHAGUS CYANOCEPHALUS, (Wagl.) Cab. 



Blue-lieaded GiacTcle; Brewer's BlacTcbird. 

 Once very abundant in Nebraska, where it breeds ; is again on the increase. During 

 my early years in Nebraska, countless numbers of these birds, along with the crow 

 blackbird, were destroyed by the early settlers. The blackbirds visited the corn-fields 

 in September, and stripped the ends of the ears to get at a grub that infested the corn. 

 If abundant rains followed, a portion of the exposed corn was damaged. The im- 

 pression became general that the blackbirds were destroying the corn. The farmers 

 soaked corn ifi strychnine and sowed it around their corn-fields for the birds to eat. I 

 have seen dead blackbirds and other birds that were destroyed in this way piled up in 

 heaps three and four feet high. And yet the birds were comparatively innocent. In 

 September, 18G6, I examined a pile of birds in a field a few miles west of Dakota City. 

 Out of forty of these blackbirds there were only five that had over a dozen grains of 

 com in their stomachs. They were filled with insects and their larvae. In September, 



1874, in Lancaster County, all of a dozen of these birds that I opened had their stomachs 

 three-fourths full of locusts, and other insects were about as abundant as the seeds 

 that accompanied them. 



QuiscALUS PURPUREUS, (Bart.) Licht. 

 Purple GracJcle; Crow Blaclcbird. 

 Rather abundant in Eastern Nebraska, though hardly as much so as the preceding. 

 It is highly insectivorous. During this last spring a field of wheat north of Lincoln 

 was literally covered with locusts. I one day observed a large flock of these birds light 

 down on this field, and after once getting a taste they returned day after day for more 

 than a week. At the end of that time hardly a locust could be found. On the third 

 day of their visits I shot one and found its stomach filled with locusts. I never failed 

 to find locusts in the stomach of this bird whenever locusts were about. At other 

 times other insects made up a large portion of its food, and yet the bird cannot be 

 recommended. I have more than once witnessed its well-known habit of robbing other 

 birds of their eggs, which it sucks, and sometimes of its young. It does not therefore 

 compare in value with the preceding bird for the agriculturist. Once I found the 

 remains of small fish in its stomach, but how it obtained them I do not know. 



Family CORVID^ : Crows, etc. 

 CoRvus CORAX, Linn. 

 Raveti. 

 Formerly frequently seen in Nebraska, especially in its northern part ; latterly sel- 

 dom met with. The single one that I examined in June, 1865, had insects, meat, and 

 seeds in its stomach. Among the insects were a dozen of locusts. 



