THE CROW BLACKBIRD. 55 
some of their first meals; but when the plow begins its work they are 
on the alert, and follow it up and down the furrows, seizing every grub 
or other insect that may be turned up. Their industry in this respect 
is very noticeable, and if not disturbed or frightened in any way they 
often become so tame as scarcely to get out of the way of the team in 
their eager search for food. Very soon a nest is built, and in a short 
time four or more gaping mouths demand to be filled, and the parent 
birds must then work harder and go farther afield to provide for the 
increased number of stomachs. When the cherries and other early 
fruits ripen, the birds take a share for themselves thinking, no doubt, 
that they are fairly entitled to them for the good work they did earlier 
in the season. When the corn ‘comes into the milk’ they also take a 
portion. 
In the selection of food the crow blackbird is almost omnivorous. Its 
partiality for corn, wheat, rice, oats, and other grain is well known, and 
is the cause of nearly all the complaints about its depredations. This 
diet is supplemented by various fruits, berries, nuts, seeds, and insects, 
the last in large proportion. But the character of the food varies 
materially with the season. During the fall and winter blackbirds 
subsist largely on seeds and grain, as spring approaches they become 
more insectivorous, in summer they take small fruits, and in September 
they attack the ripening corn; but at all seasons they probably select 
the food that is most easily obtained. 
To this varied diet are due the conflicting statements respecting the 
useful or noxious habits of the species. When feeding on grain, the 
birds are usually in large flocks and their depredations are plainly 
visible. When breeding they are less gregarious, and the good work 
they do in the fields is scarcely noticed, although at this season the 
grubs and other insects devoured compensate in large measure for 
the grain taken at other times. As Mr. N. W. Wright, of Farmland, 
Ind., aptly says, ‘It is hard to tell on which side to place the crow 
blackbirds, for we can see the damage done, but not the benefits.” 
During the spring they destroy many noxious insects. Prof. D. E. 
Lantz states that at Manhattan, Kans., from the time of their arrival 
until August they feed almost entirely upon cutworms, and Prof. 
Herbert Osborne, writing from Ames, Iowa, reports that during the 
spring of 1883 he saw them destroy great numbers of May-bectles 
(Lachnosterna fusca), and found them feeding on them for several weeks. 
Grasshoppers, crickets, locusts, and other insects are also largely eaten. 
Mr. J. Percy Moore, of Philadelphia, Pa., wrote in 1585: 
During the recent visit of the 17-year cicada this species [the purple grackle] 
devoured immense numbers of pupze and imagos. It also ate large numbers of the 
grubs of the June bug, which it generally obtained by searching in the furrows in 
newly plowed fields, and all stages of the Carolina and uther grasshoppers, the com- 
mon white butterfly (1 saw one catch several of this species on the wing May 26, 
1885), and other species not identified. 
