IuSi-:kul iurds 
17 
CROW BLACKBIRD; PURPLE CRACKLE. 
(Plate 3, Fig. 18.) 
Eats Avhite grubs, grasshoppers, and other insects including army 
worms but capal)le of doing damage in grain fields when present 
there in large flocks. It is at such times that a farmer is justifled 
in protecting his crops by the judicious use of the shotgun. But 
the bird should not be classified as an enemy to the farmer because 
it is also known to do good as indicated above. It is unfortunate 
that the engraver should have placed the blue1)ird’s head, with its 
contrasting blue, so close to the head of the 1)lackl)ird. This in- 
harmonious grouping came to the notice of the writer too late for 
correction. The crow blackbird is twelve inches long, builds a 
coarse nest of grass and mud, frequently in evergreens, or even 
in niches in the cornices of public buildings. We have found them 
as far north as Otter Tail County the latter part of October. In 
the case of the Red-winged black1)ird, in 1083 stomachs examined 
weed seed comprised 54.6 per cent of the contents, grain 13.19 per 
cent, grasshoppers (in August) 17 per cent, caterpillers 20 per 
cent in March, and beetles 10' per cent. In 138 stomachs of the 
Yellow-headed black1)ird insects comprised 33 per cent of the stom- 
ach contents, weed seed 28 per cent, grain 38 per cent- 
BLUEBIRD. 
(Plate 3, Fig. 19.) 
Too well known to need detailed description. Found through 
the United States, Canada, ^Mexico, and parts of Central America. 
Upper parts, including wings and tail, bright lilue ; l)reast, throat, 
and sides, reddish. Length, seven inches. It is of wide distribution, 
from the Atlantic to the Rockies, and from Canada to the Gulf of 
Mexico. Its note is among the first to be heard in the spring, and 
one of the last in the fall, at which latter time we associate it with 
the falling leaves of Indian summer. To the writer, its note in the 
fall has always appeared to take on additional sadness, as though 
lamenting the dying of the year. It nests in hollow trees and in 
boxes erected in suitable places, and should be encouraged by pro- 
viding it with plenty of such opportunities for housekeeping. An 
examination of two hundred and five stomachs showed that seven- 
ty-six per cent of the food consisted of insects and their allies, while 
twenty four per cent is made up of vegetable substances. Beetles 
constitute twenty-eight per cent of the whole food ; grasshoppers, 
twenty-two ; caterpillars, eleven ; and various insects, including 
