88 INSESSORES. 



just conclusions which we had drawn in reference to 

 their real merits. 



Every farmer knows that fresh spring ploughing 

 turns up an army of gruhs, worms, and the larvae of 

 myriads of insects, which, if left to themselves, would 

 be sufficient to destroy a large portion of the crop 

 which the ground would produce. But just at this 

 time come the immense flocks of Ked-wings and 

 Purple Grakles, which have been equally objects of 

 the farmer's aversion, and as they subsist almost ex- 

 clusively upon this kind of food, they resort at once 

 to the open fields and cultivated grounds, where they 

 fully compensate the farmer for the few ears of corn 

 which they destroy in the autumn. 



Red-winged Blaclibird. 



The Red-winged Blackbird generally selects for 

 a breeding place a low marshy piece of ground, oc- 

 casionally interspersed with clumps of alder and 

 other bushes, am.ong which or in a tall tussuck of 



