THE CROW BLACKBIRD. 55 



8ome of their first meals; but when the plow begins its work they are 

 on the alert, and follow it up and down the furrows, seizing every grub 

 or other insect that may be turned up. Their industry in this respect 

 is very noticeable, and if not disturbed or frightened in any way they 

 often become so tame as scarcely to get out of the way of the team in 

 their eager search for food. Very soon a nest is built, and in a short 

 time four or more gaping mouths demand to be filled, and the parent 

 birds must then work harder and go farther afield to provide for the 

 increased number of stomachs. When the cherries and other early 

 fruits ripen, the birds take a share for themselves thinking, no doubt, 

 ^hat they are fairly entitled to them for the good work they did earlier 

 in the season. When the corn ' comes into the milk' they also take a 

 portion. 



In the selection of food the crow blackbird is almost omnivorous. Its 

 partiality for corn, wheat, rice, oats, and other grain is well known, and 

 is the cause of nearly all the complaints about its depredations. This 

 diet is supplemented by various fruits, berries, nuts, seeds, and insects, 

 the last in large proportion. But the character of the food varies 

 materially with the season. During the fall and winter blackbirds 

 subsist largely on seeds and grain, as spring approaches they become 

 more insectivorous, in summer they take small fruits, and in September 

 they attack the ripening corn; but at all seasons they probably select 

 the food that is most easily obtained. 



To this varied diet are due the conflicting statements respecting the 

 useful or noxious habits of the species. When feeding on grain, the 

 birds are usually in large flocks and their depredations are plainly 

 visible. When breeding they are less gregarious, and the good work 

 they do in the fields is scarcely noticed, although at this season the 

 grubs and other insects devoured compensate in large measure for 

 the grain taken at other times. As Mr. N. W. Wright, of Farmland, 

 Ind., aptly says, "It is hard to tell on which side to place the crow 

 blackbirds, for we can see the damage done, but not the benefits." 



During the spring they destroy many noxious insects. Prof. D. E. 

 Lantz states that at Manhattan, Kans. , from the time of their arrival 

 until August they feed almost entirely upon cutworms, and Prof. 

 Herbert Osborne, writing from Ames, Iowa, reports that during the 

 spring of 1883 he saw them destroy great numbers of May-beetles 

 {Lachnosternafusca)^ and found them feeding on them for several weeks. 

 Grasshoppers, crickets, locusts, and other insects are also largely eaten. 

 Mr. J. Percy Moore, of Philadelphia, Pa., wrote in 1885: 



liuring the recent visit of the 17-year cicada this species [the purple grackle] 

 devoured immense numbers of pupse and images. It also ate large numbers of the 

 grubs of the June bug, which it generally obtained by searching in the furrows in 

 newly plowed fields, and all stages of the Carolina and other grasshoppers, the com- 

 mon white butterfly (I saw one catch several of this species on the wing May 26, 

 1885), and other species not identified. 



