8 FOOD HABITS OF THE GROSBEAKS. 
GRAIN. 
A little more than 7.1 out of a total of 8.73 percent of grain eaten 
by the cardinal grosbeak is corn, while other cereals, including wheat, 
oats, sorghum, and rice, constitute the remaining 1.62 percent. Eleven 
birds had eaten oats, 4 wheat, 2 sorghum, and 1 rice, but so trifling 
is the percentage of these grains that practically no damage is done 
except under very unusual conditions, such as the concentration of a 
great number of redbirds in a small area; but this is improbable, 
because the redbird usually is nongregarious. : 
In regard to corn, however, which was eaten by 68 of the birds 
examined, more extended consideration is desirable. The redbird’s 
fondness for Indian_corn is noted by many writers, but extensive 
injury to the crop is charged by very few. Leverett M. Loomis,* in 
writing of the birds of South Carolina, says the cardinal is “ held in- 
considerable ill repute because of its alleged depredations on newly 
planted corn.” A correspondent in Alabama writes that the redbird, 
“is injurious to corn in the roasting-ear stage, and that it also “ pulls 
the corn in the spring when it is just up with two or three leaves.” 
Little direct evidence concerning the redbird’s depredations on corn 
is derivable from our examinations, because none of the birds studied 
were collected in newly planted fields or where corn was exposed to 
‘attack. It should be stated, however, that during March, April, and 
May, which months cover the planting seasons from southernmost 
United States to Canada, less than the average amount of corn is con- 
sumed. Corn constitutes a greater proportion of the food in January 
than in any other month, and practically all eaten at this season is 
waste. So also in November and December, when corn makes up 4 
and 7 percent, respectively. Waste grain is often eaten in spring and 
even in midsummer, according to observations by the writer. 
The cardinal is said to bore into grain stacks and also to visit corn- 
cribs in winter, but probably it does so only under stress of unusual 
circumstances, as deep snow, and in all likelihood the damage is 
trivial. Lining the crib with medium-meshed wire netting, which 
can be done at small cost, will prevent access by the birds, and at the 
same time guard against attacks of rodents and poultry, while in no 
way interfering with the necessary ventilation. 
Considerable corn is eaten by the redbird during June, July, and 
August, and a portion of this may be pilfered from the standing 
crop. At this season, however, the birds are scattered, and it is not 
likely that much damage results in any one locality. 
From the above it appears that present evidence does not suffice 
to determine the exact relation of the redbird to the corn crop, 
although, so far as it goes, it is in the bird’s favor. To summarize: 
« Auk. VII, 1890, p. 125. 
