THE KED-WIN^GED BLACKBIRD. 35 



is included in this investigation was killed in northern Massachusetts 

 on January 29, 1896.) In their northward migration they begin to 

 appear in the Upper Mississippi Valley about the last of February or 

 during the first half of March, and by the middle of March enter the 

 New England States. On the return journey they begin to leave the 

 more northern portions of their range in September, and the migration 

 is practically complete by the end of October. 



Although thej^ arrive from the South at an early date, they are by 

 no means earl}^ breeders, for at that time the marshes are desolate 

 wastes of dead and broken-down herbage, and the birds do not build 

 until the new growth is considerably advanced. This involves a delay 

 of several weeks, during which the birds, having taken possession of 

 a marsh where they intend to construct their homes, sit idly about 

 and behave as though time hung heavily upon them. The females 

 usually perch upon the dead vegetation as if watching for the new 

 growth to appear, while their liege lord, with the resplendent insignia 

 of his rank conspicuous on his shoulders, struts about upon some 

 fence or tree and swells his little body, rufiles up his feathers, and by 

 a display of his brilliant colors and a rather poor attempt at singing 

 tries to make the time less wearisome to his patient mates. 



Owing to their peculiar nesting habits these birds do not come in 

 contact with the farmers' crops appreciabty during the breeding sea- 

 son, since at this time they confine themselves to the immediate 

 vicinity of their marshy homes. After the season of reproduction 

 they assemble in flocks, usually of a considerable size and often 

 immense, and it is at this time that they frequently do serious harm 

 to crops of standing grain. Much testimony has been received by the 

 Department of Agriculture indicating that the damage is sometimes 

 enormous. In letters received from the rice growers in the South 

 the redwing is implicated equally with the bobolink in destroying- 

 rice both in spring and fall. It is claimed by some, however, that 

 the redwing is not wholly bad, as it remains in the fields during the 

 winter and eats the ' volunteer ' rice, which, if it grew in any consid- 

 erable quantity, would spoil the crop. 



On the other hand, there is considerable evidence that redwings eat 

 a great man}^ insects, and that it is only under exceptional circum- 

 stances that they eat grain to an injurious extent. It is noticeable 

 that nearly all complaints against them come from the Mississippi 

 Valley, where the native grasses and weeds of the prairies have been 

 replaced by vast fields of grain. It has also been stated that the 

 greatest damage was done when but few fields of grain had been 

 planted. These aflorded a new and easily accessible supply of food 

 of which the birds were not slow to avail themselves; but since the 

 grainfields have increased in area the work of the birds has become 

 more widely distributed, and the damage has not been so apparent. 



