SUMMARY OF FOOD HABITS OF GROSBEAKS. 91 



occupy the same general territory, since it keeps them apart when 

 foraging, each thus securing enough food without competing too 

 strenuously with its neighbor. It is of great value also to man, be- 

 cause the birds exact tribute from the whole field of his insect enemies. 



As would be expected, the cardinal and gray grosbeaks have some- 

 what similar tastes. They rank highest of the group as seed eaters ; 

 they consume little grain, capture a very small number of Hymenop- 

 tera, and. relish weevils best among beetles and grasshoppers among 

 other insects. The cardinal alone is very fond of wild fruit, the 

 place of this item in the regimen of the gray grosbeak being filled 

 by a corresponding quantity of weed seed. The rose-breasted and 

 black-headed grosbeaks also have similar preferences, each manifest- 

 ing indifference toward grasshoppers but each relishing Hymenop- 

 tera and true bugs. Fruit is held in about the same estimation by 

 the two birds, though the blackhead is much more injurious to culti- 

 vated varieties. Both it and the rosebreast make a specialty of leaf- 

 beetles, each selecting a single species as one of its most favored foods. 

 The blackhead pays slight attention to grain and weed seed, but feeds 

 ravenously on scale insects; and the rosebreast, while by no means 

 neglecting scales, feeds more extensively on cereals and seeds. The 

 blue grosbeak is peculiar in three respects: It shows a very strong 

 liking for grasshoppers,, for lamellicorn beetles, and a maximum 

 avidity for grain ; and it is like the gray grosbeak in almost totally 

 neglecting fruit. 



Preferences such as the above explain why one species attacks par- 

 ticular crops which the others never touch. Thus, from the standpoint 

 of the fruit grower the blue grosbeak is entirely beneficial, but the 

 grain grower sometimes has reason to execrate this species, while to 

 him, the blackhead, which injures the fruit of his neighbor, seems 

 innocent. But as has been shown in preceding pages the beneficial 

 qualities predominate in both birds and " it is welL to remember," as 

 is wisely said by Wilson Flagg," " that nature does not grant us a 

 benefit without taking some compensation. We must be content to 

 pay for the services of our useful birds by allowing them as a 

 perquisite a certain portion of the fruits of our soil. We inust pay 

 the crow and blackbird in corn, and the robin and the cedar bird in 

 cherries; and if it be objected that the robin tax falls disproportion- 

 ately upon the fruit growers, so, on the other hand, the blackbird tax 

 falls disproportionately upon the farmer and the corn grower. 

 These evils, except as they can be prevented by watchfulness and 

 ingenious contrivances that do not harm the bird, must be patiently 

 endured for the .common good." 



"^Ann. Rep. Mass. Bd. Agr. (1861), 1862, Appendix, p. 76. 



