G4 FOOD OF BOBOLINK, BLACKBIRDS, AND GRACKLES. 
The vegetable component of the stomach contents is as variable and 
diversified as the animal food, showing plainly that when one article 
of diet is wanting the bird can make up the deficiency by eating some- 
thing clse that is more cusily obtained. The following list includes 
all the vegetable substances identified in the stomachs, but there were 
some that could not be positively determined. The pulp of fruit, 
when unaccompanied by seeds and already half digested, is difficult to 
distinguish with precision, and this is also true of the hulls or skins 
left after kernels of grain have been digested and passed; but the total 
of such unrecoenized matter is not great. 
Vegetable substances found in stomachs of crow blackbirds, 
Grain: Seeds and nuts: 
Corn. Poison ivy (Rhus radicans). 
Oats. Harmless sumac (Rhus glabra et al.). 
Wheat. Bayberries (Myrica cerifera). 
Rye. Hornbeam ( Ostrya virginiana). 
Buckwheat. Chestnuts and chinquapins (Castanea 
Fruit: dentata and pumila). 
Blackberries and raspberries. 
Straw berries. 
Cherries (cultivated). 
Mulberries. 
Beechnuts (Fagus atropunicea). 
Acorns (Quercus). 
Weeds: 
Ragweed (Ambrosia). 
Currants. Barngrass ( Chetocloa). 
Grapes. Gromwell (Lithospermum). 
Apples. Smartweed (Polygonum). 
Blueberries and cranberries ( Vaccin- 
ium gp.). 
Huckleberries ((aylussacia sp. ). 
Dogwood berries (Coris sp.). 
Elderberries (Sambucvs sp. ). 
Chokeherries (Aronia arbutifolia). 
Service berries (Amelanchicr camaden- 
sis.) 
Pokeweed (Phytolacca). 
Sorrel (Rumex). 
Miscellaneous: 
Small bulbs or tubers. 
Galls containing larvee. 
Pieces of plant stems. 
Bits of grass and leaves. 
Thorn of locust (Robinia). 
Pieces of rotton wood. 
Hackberries (Ceilis occidentalis), 
Of all the various items of food, the chief interest centers about the 
grain and fruit, for it is through their consumption that blackbirds 
inflict the greatest damage upon the farmer; in fact, the worst 
that has been said of the grackles is that they cat large quantities of 
grain. OF the five grains named in the list corn is the favorite, hav- 
ing been found in 1,321 stomachs, or more than 56 percent of the 
whole number, Tt is eaten at all seasons of the year; and in every 
month except January, Jul y, August, and November amounts to more 
than one-half of the total vegetable food. The corn obtained in 
winter and until planting in the spring can he but little loss to the 
farmer, as it must be mostly waste wrain. This view was fully con- 
firmed hy the contents of a series of stomachs taken in early spring, 
which consisted to a great extent of corn that had evidently been wet 
and frozen, and had Jain out all winter. After F ebruary there isa 
