42 SEVENTH REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



easier to point out the evil than to prescribe the cure. Stomach investigation shows 

 conclusively that birds do not subsist upon grain alone, even at times when it is 

 possible to obtain it. Moreover, the greatest amount of grain is not eaten at harvest 

 time, but during the winter months, when other food is scarce and waste kernels can 

 be picked up in the fields. If any kind of grain is preferred by a certain species, 

 we should expect the bird to subsist upon that grain almost exclusively when it can 

 be obtained, that is, at harvest time. That this is not the case is shown by the fact 

 that many birds of the same species have been shot at the same time in a grainfield, 

 and while some stomachs were full of grain, others were only partly filled, and still 

 others were wholly filled with other food. So many cases of this kind have 

 occurred that it seems practically certain that few birds willingly subsist exclusively 

 upon any kind of grain for a considerable length of time. With many species this 

 is in notable contrast to their marked fondness for the seeds of certain useless 

 plants, upon which at some seasons they subsist almost entirely. 



" If it be admitted that birds do not as a rule display an inordinate appetite for 

 grain, the question naturally arises: What is the cause of the tremendous ravages 

 they sometimes commit ? Both stomach examination and field observation point 

 to the same answer: Too many birds of the same or closely allied species are 

 gathered together within a limited area. 



"As already pointed out, the Upper Mississippi region presents such excep- 

 tionally favorable breeding grounds for Blackbirds, especially the Redwing and 

 Yellowhead, that they swarm there in countless numbers. Settlement and cultiva- 

 tion have not yet encroached materially upon their haunts, but have added a source 

 of food, which, coming before the great natural supply, has served to render the 

 race more vigorous and prolific. 



" An attempt to exterminate these species would be not only ill-advised but 

 hopeless. States have offered bounties for their destruction without perceptibly 

 thinning their ranks. Is there, then, any remedy for the evil? The writer is forced 

 to confess that he has none to suggest, except in the case of Crows and Blackbirds 

 that pull up sprouting corn. This can be prevented by thoroughly tarring the seed, 

 which, if properly done, neither injures its vitality nor prevents the use of 

 machinery in planting. There is, however, some hope for the future, though per- 

 haps a distant one. While the advance of civilization has thus far not affected 

 these birds or their haunts, the time must surely come when it will. Increased 

 density of population will broaden the area of cultivation, and this in time must 

 lead to the draining of the smaller marshes and ponds, thus turning over to agricul- 

 ture much land that has heretofore been worse than waste, since it has served as a 



