304 CONNECTICUT GEOL. AND NAT. HIST. SURVEY. [BuU. 



are eaten in August, the ' grasshopper month.' As all species of 

 grasshoppers are injurious, their destruction must be counted to 

 the credit of the bird." 



" The vegetable food of the Redwings consists mainly of 

 seeds of grasses and weeds, the different kinds of grain being 

 merely larger or more important grasses. Some of these plants, 

 like wild rice (Zizania), have- no economic importance; but many 

 others, such as the cultivated grains, are of value, and their 

 destruction is a positive loss; while still others, like ragweed 

 (Ambrosia), are noxious weeds, the destruction of which is a 

 benefit to the farmer." Oats were found to constitute 6.3 per 

 cent of the year's food ; wheat 2.2 per cent ; and corn, 4.6 per cent ; 

 oats are eaten chiefly in July and August; wheat, in July; and 

 corn, in March, August, and September. Much of this grain is 

 taken from the standing crop and must be counted against the 

 bird. " Of the 1,083 stomachs examined, only 19 were filled with 

 grain alone, while 217 were entirely filled with the seeds of weeds 

 or useful plants." 



" Weed seed is apparently the favorite food of the Redwings, 

 since the total amount of grass and weeds is 54.6 per cent — more 

 than half of the year's food, and more than four times the total 

 grain consumption. These seeds are the principal article of diet 

 of the birds in the Northern States in the early spring and late fall, 

 and the stomachs received from the South during the winter are 

 filled with them almost exclusively. They amount to more than 

 3 per cent in June, the month of minimum consumption, and 

 constitute a very appreciable percentage even during the months 

 when grain is most abundant. The great bulk consists of the 

 four well-known genera of noxious weeds, ChcBtochloa (barn 

 grass or foxtail). Ambrosia (ragweed), Panicum (panic-grass), 

 and Polygonum (smartweed and knotweed). The others were 

 found in from i to 64 stomachs each; and, while not all are as 

 much of a nuisance to clean cultivation as the four named, none 

 have any useful function in agriculture. Fruit forms so insig- 

 nificant a proportion of the Redwing's food that it is hardly worth 

 considering. Blackberries or raspberries were identified by their 

 seed in 7 stomachs, but only a few were found in each, and the 

 percentage is trifling. The other species taken also appear in 

 few stomachs and in small quantities." 



