ECONOMIC RELATIONS OF OUR BIRDS. 
549 
It is only late iu August or early in September that these birds do any consid¬ 
erable damage, and then only in localities not far removed fi-oni their breeding 
grounds, for, as is well known, they return to the wet, reedy swamps to roost at 
night. After the corn has pjissed through the milk state and become hard and 
firm on the cob, the Retlwiugs trouble it but little. Tliey do not appear to be 
able to remove the kernels. They continue to visit the corn and stubble-fields, 
but it is for the purpose of obtaining the seeds of weeds and insects. Even 
while corn is in the milk state, the birds which visit the corn-fields appear to 
feed more upon the seeds of weeds than upon corn. All but five of the eighty- 
four sijecimens whose food is given below were taken between August 9th and 
September 20th, and the majority of these either while they were in the corn¬ 
fields or just as they were returning from them. By examining that list it will 
be seen that more than two-fifths of them had eaten no corn at all, while less 
than one-tenth had eaten only corn. Were the little injury which this species 
does evenly distributed over the country, instead of being localized about its 
breeding haunts and roosting places, I am convinced that it would never be felt. 
Food; Of eighty-four specimens examined, thirty-seven had eaten corn and 
seeds of various weeds; thirty-one had eaten only seeds; seven had eaten only 
corn; three, lye; two, oats; eight, wheat; two, tender herbage; five, seven 
beetles; four, seven grasshoppers; one, a moth; and one, a caterpillar. In the 
stomachs of two birds there were bits of insects none of which were identified. 
Eight had eaten small mollusks; and one, berries. 
The gleanings of old rice, buckwheat and corn fields in the fall and winter, 
and gi-ub-worms, caterpillars, and other larvae in the spring (Wilson). Canker- 
worms (Maynard). Caterpillars, beetles, spiders, wheat and seeds of weeds 
(Forbes), 
114. Zaothocephalus icterocephalus (Bp.), Bd. YELLOW-HEADED 
BLACKBIRD. Group I. Class b. 
This species is not very common except in certain localities. Its haunts are 
similar to those of the Red-winged Blackbird, with which it often associates in 
the fall. It breeds, as a rule, farther out in the marshes about lakes and ponds, 
and until fall confines itself quite closely to those localities. In its economic 
relations it differs from the last species only in degree — it being a larger and 
stronger bird and thus better able to do mischief iu the fall, while its retiring 
habits render it less serviceable during the summer. 
Food: Of three specimens examined, one had eaten only corn; one, corn and 
the seeds of black bind-weed; and one, only six beetles. 
In Kansas, these birds render great service to farmers by destroying the 
swarms of young grasshoppers (I. M. McLaughlin, Am. Nat., II, p. 493). 
115. Stuenella MAGNA (LiNN.), Sw. MEADOW LARK; FIELD LARK. 
Group I. Class b. 
The sweet-voiced Meadow Lark is one of our most useful birds, and yet few are 
persecuted more than it. Every sportsman — and they are many — must learn 
to shoot on the wing, and invariably this bird is doomed to be their target. What 
is even worse, boys from the towns are permitted to stroll through the fields, 
shooting, in their recklessness, almost any bird they meet. Farmers must stop 
all of this if they would have birds do effective work in protecting their croj)s. 
The Meadow Lark is almost exclusively insectivorous and nearly one-half of its 
