42 FOOD OF BOBOLINK, BLACKBIEDS, AND GEACKLES. 



Grain collectively amounts to 13.9 percent of the food of the year, 

 and its distribution as shown above leads to the conclusion that at 

 least half of it is waste. Oats alone show an increased consumption 

 in May, the month of sowing. July and August are the months of 

 maximum consumption. All that is eaten after August, except corn, 

 must be gathered from the stubble, unless the grain is left shocked in 

 the field; and even in that case it is difficult to understand how the 

 birds can do any serious damage if the shocks are properly put up and 

 are not allowed to remain out an unreasonable time. 



In order to gain a more thorough understanding of the grain-eating 

 propensities of the redwings, a special studj^ was made of the food for 

 the five months from May to September, inclusive. Fortj^-six percent 

 of the stomachs taken in May contained grain, and only 11 percent of 

 those taken in June. The ratio then rises in July, and culminates at 

 72 percent in August, after which it decreases mpidly. The average 

 for the five months is 10 percent; that is, in every 100 birds taken 

 46 had eaten grain. The grain-eating record, as exhibited by the bulk 

 of the grain food, is quite difl'erent. Grain constitutes about 20 per- 

 cent of the food by bulk in ^lay and less than percent in June, 

 but rises to a maxinunn of nearly 43 percent in eTuly and falls off 

 slightly in August, after which it rapidly decreases and disappears. 

 The average consumption for the five months is 24 percent of the 

 whole food. Again, if the two months of July and August are con- 

 sidered alone, it will be found that although 08 of every 100 birds have 

 eaten grain, this item constitutes only 41 percent of the food for the 

 two month.s. 



Still further restricting the studj' to birds taken in the Mississippi 

 Valley, in the same five months. May to September, the percentage of 

 grain shows an important increase. During these months 173 birds 

 were collected in the States of Indiana. Illinois, Wisconsin, Minne- 

 sota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas. The 

 number, though .small, is .sufficient to serve at least as a clue to the 

 food during this period. Grain was eaten by 00 percent of the birds 

 collected in May, by 40 percent of those taken in June, l)y 80 per- 

 cent of those taken in July, by 81 percent of those taken in August, 

 and by 45 percent of those taken in September. Of the food of 

 those taken in May, 27 percent was grain of various kinds; in June, 

 23 percent; in July, 51 percent; in August, 45 percent, and in Sep- 

 tember, 24 percent; an average of 34 percent of grain for the five 

 months. As these are the ones in which nearly all of the grain is 

 eaten, and as more than half of it is eaten in July and August, the 

 above exhibit apparently shows the worst that the redwings do. Of 

 the 1,083 stomachs examined, only 19 were filled with grain alone, 

 while 217 were entirely filled with the seeds of weeds or useless 

 plants. The total grain consumed, as given above, is less than that 



