. 
Some Common Birds Useful to the Farmer. 17 
orchard. It is apparent that where moderately abundant, the red-wing does 
more good than harm, but in sections where it becomes excessively abundant 
a reduction in its numbers is justifiable. 
BOBOLINK. 
The bobolink, ricebird, or reedbird™ (fig. 15) igs a common summer resident 
of the United States, north of about latitude 40°, and from New England west- 
ward to the Great Plains, wintering beyond our southern border. In New 
England there are few birds about which so much romance clusters as this 
rollicking songster, naturally associated with sunny June meadows; but in the 
South there are none on whose head so many maledictions have been heaped 
on account of its fondness for rice. During its sojourn in the Northern States 
it feeds mainly upon insects and 
seeds of useless plants; but while 
rearing its young, insects constitute 
its chief food, and almost the exclu- 
sive diet of its brood. After the 
young are able to fly, the whole fam- 
ily gathers into a small flock and 
begins to live almost entirely upon 
vegetable food. This consists for 
the most part of weed seeds, since 
in the North these birds do not ap- 
pear to attack grain to any great 
extent. They eat a few oats, but their 
stomachs do not reveal a great quan- 
tity of this or any other grain. As 
the season advances they gather into 
larger flocks and move southward, 
until by the end of August nearly all 
have left their breeding grounds. On 
their way they frequent the reedy 
marshes about the mouths of rivers Fic. 15.—Bobolink, rice bird, or reed bird. 
and on the inland waters of the coast Length, about 7 inches. 
region and subsist largely upon wild : ‘ 
es In the Middle Sitar cack their southward migration, they are com- 
monly known as reedbirds, and, becoming very fat, are treated as game. we Ge 
Formerly, when the low marshy shores of the Carolinas oe pan sts 
more southern States were devoted to rice culture the bobolin a Cog wees es 
havoe both upon the sprouting rice in spring and upon the ripen ane a sphetl 
their return migration in the fall. While the demage is not so great as when 
this region was the center of rice production, still it amounts i cee pro- 
sands of dollars annually. As a remedy, an open season on ricebir : 
vided in the Coast States from New Jersey to Florida. 
CROW. 
In one or another of its geographic races the common cro eae cae 
in great numbers throughout the States east of the Plains an 
ile i it i d in California and in 
well up into Canada, while in less abundance it is ee 0 ey oy 
i ths 
the N western States. During the colder months a & : 
ove eta hele most of these birds within the borders ce a eae baste 
and at about the latitude of Philadelphia and sa eae Ee ot ai agate 
congregating nightly in roosts. Farmers dwelling in the 
es to shocked corn. _ 
ee native birds so much concerns me Pik wad ee iene ars 7 
Eastern States as the common crow. Many OF our aa ee aie 
bird, as its pulling sprouting corn, feeding on ripening ae See at ase 
yarious kinds, destroying poultry and wild birds, os i a einer oe 
of live stock, were common complaints i ie pean ae ie oe 
i , now qui ally ae ae gan 
= fe ; aa me nay years. In recent times, toes ane eA 
of these Tiohiens: including ie eo Pe cee we ine 
i month 0 e year an a 3 fais 
oe a much fairer verdict than was formerly possib 
5 rT hos. 
44 Dolichonysz oryzivorus. & Corvus brachyrhync 
