180 BIRDS OP PENNSYLVANIA. 



themselves over the country, frequenting, principally, as previously 

 stated, meadow lands and humid grounds in quest chiefly of insect 

 diet, that is only occasonally diversified by a grain of corn, wheat or 

 oats, and such seeds as may be found in seeking the hidden insect. 



In the wake of the plowman, as he turns the crumbling earth, 

 closely follow the argus-eyed Grackles, ever on the alert to seize the 

 wriggling worm, the agile beetle, or the glistening grub, and the num- 

 erous larvcB thrown out as each furrow is turned. Certainly, at this 

 season our sable acquaintances are engaged only in that which will 

 prove of utility to the cultivator when his crops are growing. We 

 repeatedly hear of how the Blackbirds tear up and devour the young 

 and growing corn. This, unquestionably, is sometimes the case, but I 

 am confident that the destruction thus done is much exaggerated. I 

 am aware that on more than one occasion I have seen the tender 

 blades of corn lying on the ground where were actively at work Crow 

 Blackbirds, a number of which were shot, and on post-mortem dissec- 

 tion their stomachs revealed almost entirely insects. Some four years 

 ago I was visiting a friend who had thirty odd acres of corn (maize) 

 planted. Quite a number of "blackies," as he styled them, were ply- 

 ing themselves with great activity about the growing cereal. We 

 shot thirty-one of these birds feeding in the corn field. Of this num- 

 ber nineteen showed only cut worms in their stomachs. The number 

 of cut worms in each, of course, varied, but as many as twenty-two 

 were taken from one stomach. In seven some corn was found, in con- 

 nection with a very large excess of insects, to- wit : Beetles, earth 

 worms, and cut worms. The remaining five showed chiefly beetles. 



Comment is frequently made with regard to the Purple Grackles 

 pillaging the cherry trees. To some extent this is true, but certainly 

 the amount of fruit taken is small, far less than that injured by the 

 well-known Cedar or Cherry Bird (Ampelis cedrorum.) 



Strawberries, blackberries, and other fruits are fed upon, but to a 

 very limited extent, by this species. The diet of the young birds, 

 while under parental care, is almost exclusively insectivorous, consist- 

 ing mainly of caterpillars and grubs. 



It is a well-established fact that they are given to pillaging the eggs 

 of other birds, especially the common Robin. Gentry, however, states 

 that they destroy the young of birds, a fact, as yet, unobserved by the 

 writer. 



In referring to this species, Wilson very aptly remarks : " As some 

 consolation to the industrious cultivator, I can assure him that were 

 I placed in his situation, I should hesitate whether to consider these 

 birds most as friends or enemies, as they are particularly destructive 

 to almost all the noxious worms, grubs, and caterpillars that infest 

 his fields, which, were they allowed to multiply unmolested, would 



