10 FOOD OF BOBOLINK, BLACKBIEDS, AND GRACKLES. 



able quantit}^ of grain, has not been the cause of so much complaint as 

 the foregoing species, perhaps because of its well-known habit of nest- 

 ing about farmsteads, where it obtains a large portion of its food 

 from the barnyards and grain cribs. The boat-tailed grackle is so 

 local in its distribution that its food habits are familiar to compara- 

 tively few. It confines its grain eating almost exclusively to corn, 

 which it appears to eat at every opportunit3^ Unlike most of the 

 other species, it also damages fruit. The western Brewer's black- 

 bird, with grain constituting more than 60 percent of its food, would 

 naturally be supposed to be a dangerous neighbor for the grain 

 grower, and where it has come in contact with the grainfield it has 

 fulfilled this expectation. The California redwing is confined to a 

 comparatively small part of the countrj^, and its food habits have not 

 yet received much attention. It seems almost certain that it must 

 become a nuisance, but the record of its food is too meager to justify 

 final conclusions. 



The animal food of these nine species of blackbirds must be counted 

 for the most part in their favor, as the insects eaten are generally 

 noxious. Onl}' one species (the crow blackbird) shows anj- special fond- 

 ness for the valuable predaccous beetles (Carabida'), and these amount 

 to less than percent of its food. The snout-bcctles (Rhynchophora), 

 commonly known as weevils, seem to be specially sought during the 

 early sunnner. In the five months from Api'il to August, inclusive, 

 9 percent of the food of the bobolink consists of these harmful 

 beetles, a record which is slightly exceeded by the redwing for the 

 same time. In May they constitute more than one-fourth of the food 

 of Brewer's blackbird. As all the meml)ers of this group of beetles 

 are noxious, and as two species that have been identified in great 

 numbers in the birds' stomachs arc very harmful to forage crops, the 

 benefit derived from this destruction is obvious. In the consumption 

 of grasshoppers, Brewer's })lackbird heads the list, more than 16 

 percent of its food consisting of these pests; while the redwing 

 (excluding the California bird) stands at the foot, Avith a little less 

 than G percent. In August, Brewer's blackbird takes more than 47 

 pen-ent of its food in grasshoppers, and the rusty blackbird and cow- 

 bird only a little less. Being mainly terrestrial, the black))irds do not 

 naturally come in contact with caterpillars so frequently as they would 

 if they sought their food upon trees or shrubs; but nevertheless these 

 insects constitute 13 percent of the food of the bobolink, nearly 6 per- 

 cent of that of the redwing, and but little less of that of several others. 

 The other insects eaten are, with an occasional exception, harmful, 

 and though distributed among several diflerent orders, form a notice- 

 able percentage of the food. The crustaceans and snails may be con- 

 sidered neutral. 



