16 
FARMERS* BULLETIN G30. 
common in most of its range, its distribution is more or less local, mainly on 
account of its partiality for marshes. It builds its nest over or near standing 
water, in tall grass, rushes, or bushes. Owing to this peculiarity the bird may 
be absent from large tracts of country which afford no swamps or marshes 
suitable for nesting. It usually breeds in large colonies, though single families, 
consisting of a male and several females, may sometimes be found in a small 
slough, where each female builds her nest and rears her own little brood, while 
her liege lord displays his brilliant colors and struts in the sunshine. In the 
upper Mississippi Valley the species finds most favorable conditions, for the 
countless prairie sloughs and the margins of the numerous shallow lakes afford 
nesting sites for thousands of red-wings; and here are bred the immense flocks 
which sometimes do so much damage to the grain fields of the West. After the 
breeding season the birds congregate preparatory to migration, and remain 
thus associated throughout the winter. 
Three species and several subspecies of red-wings are recognized, 1 but practi¬ 
cally no difference exists in the habits of these forms either in nesting or 
feeding, except such as may result from local conditions. Most of the forms are 
found on the Pacific side of the continent, and may be considered as included in 
the following statements as to food and economic status. 
Many complaints have been made against the red-wing, and several States 
have at times placed a bounty upon its head. It is said to cause great damage 
to grain in the West, especially in the upper Mississippi Valley, but no complaints 
come from the northeastern section, 
where the bird is much less abun¬ 
dant than in the West and South. 
Examination of 1,0S3 stomachs 
showed that vegetable matter forms 
74 per cent of the food, while animal 
matter, mainly insects, forms but 20 
per cent. A little more than 10 per 
cent consists of beetles, mostly 
harmful species. Weevils, or snout 
beetles, amount to 4 per cent of the 
year’s food, but in June reach 25 
per cent. As weevils are among the 
most harmful insects known, their 
destruction should condone some, at 
least, of the sins of which the bird 
is accused. Grasshoppers constitute 
nearly 5 per cent of the food, while 
the rest of the animal matter is 
made up of various insects, a few 
snails, and crustaceans. The few 
dragon flies found were probably 
picked up dead, for they are too 
active to be taken alive, unless by a bird of the flycatcher family. So far as the 
insect food as a whole is concerned, the red-wing may be considered entirely 
beneficial. 
The interest in the vegetable food of this bird centers around grain. Only 
three kinds, corn, wheat, and oats, were found in the stomachs in appreciable 
quantities. They aggregate but little more than 13 per cent of the whole food, 
oats forming nearly half of this amount. In view of the many complaints that 
the red-wing eats grain, this record is surprisingly small. The purple grackle 
has been found to eat more than three times as much. In the case of the crow, 
corn forms one-third of the food, so that the red-winged blackbird, whose diet 
is made up of only a trifle more than one-eighth of grain, is really one of the 
least destructive species. The most important item of the bird’s food, however, 
is weed seed, which forms practically all of its food in winter and about 57 per 
cent of the fare of the whole year. The principal weed seeds eaten are those 
of ragweed, barnyard grass, and smartweed. That these seeds are preferred is 
shown by the fact that the birds begin to eat them in August, when grain is still 
readily obtainable, and continue feeding on them even after insects become 
plentiful in April. The red-wing eats very little fruit and does practically no 
harm to garden or orchard. Nearly seven-eighths of its food is made up of 
weed seed or of insects injurious to agriculture, indicating unmistakably that 
Fig. 14.—Red-winged blackbird. Length, about 
9J inches. 
1 Agelaius phoeniceus (8 forms), Agelaius giibernator, and Agelaius tricolor. 
