22 FOOD OF BOBOLINK, BLACKBIRDS, AND GRACKLES. 
facts can not be set aside by poetry and sentiment. The picturesque- 
ness of the bobolink and the melody of its song do not offset the financial 
loss and harassing care of.the Southern rice growers. As the case 
stands at present the harm done by the bird far outweighs its benefits; 
but it is to be hoped that science may devise some means by which 
the rice growers may be relieved from some portion, if not all, of the 
labor and expense now incident to saving their crops from its devas- 
tations. 
The following table shows the percentage of each of the principai 
kinds of food for each month from May to September. 
Food of the bobolink. 
[NUMBER OF STOMACHS EXAMINED: May, 52; June, 41; July, 45; August, 103; September, 50. Total, 291.} 
Food. May. June. July. August, i Average. 
ARITA: Percent. | Percent. | Percent. | Percent. | Percent. | Percent. 
Predaceous beetles ........-..--- 1.0 DE |ieiciewisresecein BEG: | hciecaronciecn 0.6 
May-beetle family............... 12.1 LD? lees sey ATED aanasparerere 2.7 
Snout-beetles........... a 20.8 9.6 9.6 2.5 20) 9.0 
Other beetles .. 8.6 12.8 10.7 1.4 G@1(° &F 
Wasps, ants, ete stats sie 15.5 5.0 13.6 3.5 0.3 7.6 
Caterpillars:....ccs.ecsccosennencis 17.6 28.1 15.3 2.3 1.8 13.0 
Grasshoppers ..-..--..-...-2.--5- Tr, 23.2 25.8 6.0 2.5 11.5 
Other insects oe 3.5 9.0 8.4 2.0 0.2 4.6 
Spiders and myriapods........-. 2.8 2.5 BSE 10): era ee 1.4 
Total animal food ......... 81.9 92.4 84.5 19.4 ak 67.1 
VEGETABLE. 
Oatsiacniassceis BFS! | esiewteerticia 3.4 31.4 1.6 8.3 
Other grain. . nial LOT | teesysrarerdeoronit 0.1 4.3 14.6 4,1 
WGEd: SCCOS cn cirerertusnmesanes 10.0 6.4 9.6 36.9 18,1 16,2 
Other vegetable food............ 11 1.2 2.4 8.0 58.6 14.8 
Total vegetable food ...... 18.1 7.6 15.5 80.6 92.9 42.9 
1Tr, = trace. 
THE COWBIRD. 
(Molothrus ater.) 
Few rural sights are more suggestive of quiet enjoyment than @ 
group of cows lying at ease in a sunny pasture calmly chewing the 
cud, while on their backs a small flock of cowbirds are resting or walk- 
ing slowly about searching for food. Why the birds choose such 
companions is difficult to explain, as there does not appear to be any 
special relation between them, but their association with domesticated 
animals is a matter of common observation, and has given rise to their , 
popular name. Both Audubon and Wilson ascribe the habit to the 
desire of the birds to feed upon the intestinal worms they find in the | 
cow droppings.‘ But stomach examination, however, entirely fails 
'Ornith. Biog., Vol. I, p. 498, 1831. Am. Ornith., Edinburgh ed., Vol. I, PB 
209, 1831. 
