as they flutter widely around the in- 

 truder's head." 



The nests of the Redwings are nearly 

 always placed in a swamp or marshy 

 place. These nests are bulky, basket- 

 like structures, of neatly but coarsely 

 woven grasses, leaves and stems, at- 

 tached to reeds, bushes or other marsh 

 plants. Dr. Ridgway knew of a nest 

 which was "built in a small elm tree 

 standing in the middle of a moderately 

 dry meadow, and placed at a height of 

 about fifteen feet from the ground. '1 

 The nests are hned with fine grasses, 

 rootlets, fibers and vegetable and ani- 

 mal hairs. The large interstices which 

 remain in the weaving of the walls are 

 sometimes filled with grass, rotten wood 

 fibrous peat, or at times with mud. 



Not long after the young have left 

 the nest and are able to care for them- 

 selves, they with the males and females 

 begin to congregate, and by the last of 

 August or the first of September they 

 have gathered in immense flocks. It 

 is then that the Blackbirds become a 

 nuisance and bearing down upon the 

 cornfields in great black swarms do 

 much damage at times to the corn while 

 in the milk. In the spring they may 

 also damage the young corn which is 

 beginning to sprout. In the rice fields 

 of the South these Blackbirds also fre- 

 quently do much damage. Because of 

 these depredations they are sometimes 

 destroyed in large numbers. In the fall, 

 when the corn has hardened and the 

 birds have retired to the swamps to feed 

 upon willd rice, they roost in. the reeds, 

 "whither they repair in large flocks 

 every evening from all the neighboring 

 quarters of the country; upon these 

 they perch and cling, so as to obtain a 

 support above the surrounding waters 

 of the marsh." Many years ago, and 

 possibly to some extent at the present 

 time, it was the custom to fire these 

 reeds when they became dry and thus' 

 destroy many of the Blackbirds, and 

 some which tried to escape by flight, 

 were shot. Mr. F. E. L. Beal says 

 that the rice growers in the South im- 

 plicate the Blackbirds equally with the 

 bo])olink in the destruction of rice both 

 in the spring and fall. Some growers, 

 however, claim tliat the Ivcdwine's arc 



not wholly bad for they "remain in the 

 fields during the winter and eat the 

 Volunteer' rice, which, if it grew in any 

 considerable quantity would spoil the 

 crop." 



It would seem, however, that the 

 weight of evidence favors the Redwings 

 and that the damage done by them in 

 the spring and fall is more than bal- 

 anced by the good deeds performed 

 during these and the other seasons of 

 the year. Dr. B. H. Warren has taken 

 as many as twenty-eight cutworms from 

 the stomach of a single Redwing. He 

 also found that these birds consume 

 large numbers of "earth worms, grass- 

 . hoppers, crickets, plant-lice and various 

 larvae, so destructive at times in the 

 field and garden." It is also true that 

 during the proper season for such fruits 

 they eat, to a greater or less extent, 

 blackberries, raspberries, strawberries 

 and cherries. However, the Redwings 

 quite atone for this by feeding the 

 young, while under parental care, on an 

 exclusive insect diet. All students of 

 bird life know that this means a very 

 notable destruction of insects. Besides 

 their insect diet they feed largely on 

 wild seeds, many of which are from 

 various pjants. Mr. Beal found in two 

 hundred stomachs the seeds of smart- 

 weeds; in two hundred and seventy-one, 

 the seeds of barngrass; in one hundred 

 and eighty-nine, the seeds of ragweeds 

 and in one hundred and eight the seeds 

 of panic-grass. He also found the seeds 

 of wild rice, pigweeds, sunflowers, sor- 

 rel, chickweed and other weeds, the de- 

 struction of which. is of positive value to 

 the farmer. It is no more than justice 

 to this abused bird that w^e should quote 

 Mr. Beal's summary of his investiga- 

 tions. He says: "In summing up the 

 economic status of the Redwing the 

 principal point to attract attention is the 

 smalll percentage of grain in the year's 

 food, seemingly so much at variance 

 with the complaints of the bird's de- 

 structive habits. Judged by the contents 

 of its stomach alone, the Redwing is 

 most decidedly a useful bird. The serv- 

 ice rendered by the destruction of nox- 

 ious insects and weed seeds far out- 

 weighs the damage due to its consump- 

 tion of orain. The destruction that it 



72 



