28 FOOD OF BOBOLINK, BLACKBIRDS, AND GRACKLES. 
aggregate for the year is 6.5 percent. Wheat was found in only 20 
stomachs, and amounts to 1.4 percent of the year’s food. Like corn, 
its distribution is irregular and does not appear to have any relation to 
the seasons. Itis probable that it is a purely accidental food, eaten 
only when nothing better is to be had. The greatest quantity (4.8 per- 
cent) was taken in September. A single kernel of buckwheat was 
found in 1 stomach. 
Grain as a whole amounts to 16.5 percent, or practically one-sixth 
of the food of the year; but a consideration of its distribution as given 
above leads to the conclusion that a large portion of this, probably 
one-half, is waste. In comparing the record of the cowbird with that of 
the red-winged blackbird, the cowbird’s shows the greater consumption 
of grain; that is, 16.5, as against 13.9 for the redwing. In view of this 
fact it would seem somewhat strange, were not a large proportion of 
the grain consumed waste, that no complaints should have been made 
against the cowbird on the score of grain eating. It is possible, of 
course, that observers have not always distinguished the two species 
in the field, as male cowbirds do not differ greatly in color or size from 
female redwings—and their great abundance in the West lends some 
color to this supposition. But it seems far more probable that they 
gather a very important part of the grain found in their stomachs in 
their gleaning in roads, about barnyards, and wherever cattle are 
found, and so do far less actual damage to growing crops than the 
redwings. 
Fruit forms an insignificant part of the food. Some traces of what 
may have been fruit pulp were found, and a few seeds of raspberries 
were in each of 4 stomachs, and some blueberry seeds in one; but as 
some of the raspberry seeds were in stomachs collected in April they 
were evidently eaten as dry seeds, and this may have been true of all. 
The seeds of plants classified as weeds in the list of vegetable food 
constitute by far the most important part of the diet. They form the 
largest item of food in every month except July and August, and are 
of importance in every month. Beginning with 64.4! percent in 
January and 95.5 percent in February, they slowly decrease to 16.6 
percent in August, but rise suddenly to 58.1 percent in September, 
attain their maximum of 97 percent in October, and end with 96.8 
percent in December. They constitute practically the whole food of ° 
the winter months. The aggregate for the year is 60 percent of all 
the food, or more than three-fourths of the vegetable food, and more 
than three and a half times the total amount of grain. Barngrass and 
ragweed are especially well known as troublesome weeds throughout 
the country wherever field crops are cultivated, and these two consti- 
tute the great bulk of this food. Barngrass seed was found in 265 
stomachs and ragweed in~176. Panicums, while ostensibly forage 
plants, are often troublesome weeds. Their seeds were found in 133 
‘Based on 3 stomachs. A larger number would probably greatly increase the 
percentage, 
