BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA 
221 
other was placed about twenty feet from the earth, neither of these 
differed materially in their make-up from the averag*e nest. 
Food. 
To our agriculturist this is a subject worthy of some consideration. 
It appears to be the prevailing opinion among many farmers — the ma- 
jority in fact — that Crow Blackbirds are in many ways detrimental, and 
in no particular are they beneficial. This belief, evidently handed down 
from one generation to another, is taken in its full meaning, widely 
at variance with positive fact. Among the first of our vernal migrants 
come the Crow Blackbirds in large flocks which disperse themselves 
over the country, frequenting, principally, as previously stated, meadow 
lands and humid grounds in quest chiefly of an insect diet, that is only 
occasionally 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 numerous larvm 
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, un- 
questionably, is sometimes the case, but I am confident that the destruc- 
tion 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 dissection their stomachs revealed almost en- 
tirely insects. Some six 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 plying themselves with great activity about the grow- 
ing cereal. We shot thirty-one of these birds feeding in the cornfield. 
Of this number 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 
connection 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 pil- 
laging 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, consisting mainly of 
caterpillars and grubs. 
It is a well-established fact that they are given to pillaging the eggs 
