256 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 



far more good to their crops than harm. When they take them for food it is with nets 

 and alive. But they do eat grain, particularly wheat. It has been claimed by some of 

 our farmers that were seeking excuses for killing them that they lead their young to the 

 ripened wheat fields, and, flying close over the heads of the grain, whip out with their 

 wings a good breakfast and more for themselves and their young. I more than half 

 believe that they do, for Mr. Ring-neck believes in eating plenty, and that of the best, 

 but he is not only willing but anxious to recompense the farmer for all the forty- 

 cent-a-bushel wheat he destroys by destroying bugs and insects that are even more 

 destructive to the grain fields. 



They like open but bushy country, with adjacent meadows and farms. It is in 

 such places that we generally find them. There they live and breed. The Ring-neck 

 is never found in heavy timber. In regard to their introduction in new countries, I 

 incline to the belief that the best plan is to keep the birds over winter in confinement, 

 liberating them in the spring near where they are expected to make their home, say 

 about the first of April in New York. 



