BLACKBIRDS. 



21 



Among the insects taken at various times during the year, grasshop- 

 pers, locusts, and crickets are by far the most important, since they 

 averaged 29 percent of the food. Of the 238 stomachs examined, 178 

 contained grasshoppers, and 37 of these insects were found in a single 

 stomach. In August stomachs they constituted 69 percent of the food. 

 Beetles, which stand next in importance to grasshoppers, included 

 chiefly May beetles (Scarabseidse), snout-beetles or weevils (Ehynco.- 

 phora), and leaf -beetles (Chrysomelidse). Caterpillars formed an im- 

 portant element of the food, and ants a small, but fairly constant, 

 item, about 3 percent for the year. 



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Fig. 6.— Red-winged blackbird (Agelaius plumiceus) 

 BLACKBIRDS. 



In the District of Columbia red-winged, or marsh, blackbirds {Age- 

 laius phomiceus — fig. 6) are treated as game birds and an open season 

 for shooting them is set apart. The argument is made that on account 

 of the damage they do to grainfields, particularly in the spring and 

 autumn, blackbirds may be kept from becoming too abundant by treat- 

 ing them as game. But it may well be questioned whether this would 

 reduce their numbers as effectually as if they were excluded entirely 

 from protection in localities where they are injurious. Game birds 

 are necessarily protected for a longer or shorter time during the breed- 

 ing season, while species excepted from protection may be killed at 

 any season. A full account of the food habits of the various black- 

 birds may be found in Bulletin No. 13 of the Biological Survey. 



