THE CEOW BLACKBIRD. 



69 



insect life down to a proper level. The examination of the food of the 

 blackbirds has shown that they do a good share of this work, and are 

 therefore most emphatically useful birds — so useful that no general war 

 of extermination should be waged against them. This does not mean 

 that they do no harm, or that they should be permitted to do harm with- 

 out restraint. A bird whose diet contains 46. 5 percent of grain must be 

 capable of considerable damage in any section of country where grain 

 is an important crop; and when blackbirds descend upon a corn or wheat 

 field in flocks of hundreds or thousands, they inflict a real loss, from 

 which the farmer should protect himself by any practicable means. 

 Still, crow blackbirds have not been complained of so much as red- 

 wings, and they probably do not ordinarily cause much loss to the 

 farmer, since such a large part of the grain they eat consists of scat- 

 tered or waste kernels. The local ravages they commit are usually 

 due to overcrowding in a restricted area, and when this occurs there 

 is no doubt that their numbers should be reduced. 



The following table shows the percentage of each article of diet for 

 each month : 



Food of the crow blackbird. 



[Number OF STOMACHS examined: January,?; February, 8; March, 53; April, 289; May, 348; June, 887; 

 July, 346; August, 197; September, 81; October, 111; November, 11: December, S. Total, 2,346.] 



ANIMAL. 



Pred. beetles 



May-beetle family 



Snout-beetles 



other beetles 



Caterpillars 



Grasshoppers 



Other insects 



Spiders and myr- 



Crustaceans and 



mollusks , 



Vertebrates 



Total animal 

 food 



VEGETABLE. 



Corn 



Oats 



Wheat 



other grain 



Domestic fruit... 



Wild fruit 



Weed seed 



Mast, etc 



Total vegeta- 

 ble food . . 



Per- 

 cent. 

 6.3 

 6.8 

 1.8 

 1.3 

 2.3 

 1.2 

 2.9 



4 73.2 34.1 



8.5 

 22.0 

 3.5 

 1.7 

 8.2 

 8.8. 

 3.2 



27.2 

 2.2 

 0.6 

 0.3 



iTr. 

 0.4 

 0.4 

 3.0 



Per- 

 cent. 

 12.9 

 15.1 

 5.3 

 1.9 

 3.6 

 14.6 

 2.9 



Per- 

 cent. 

 11.1 

 8.0 

 4.4 

 1.3 

 1.2 

 12.7 

 4.8 



Per- 

 cent. 

 9.1 

 0.8 

 2.1 

 0.9 

 0.7 

 23.4 

 1.9 



Per- 

 cent. 

 1.5 



0.1 



Per- 

 cent. 

 0.5 

 1.6 

 0.7 

 0.6 

 3.1 

 1.9 

 0.4 



0.6 



3.1 



Per- 

 cent. 

 5.0 

 4.9 

 2.0 

 1.0 

 2.3 

 7.3 

 2.3 



