exception can be taken are some of the striking characteristics of the
Baltimore oriole[37] (fig. 12). In summer it is found throughout the
northern half of the United States east of the Great Plains. Its nest
commands hardly less admiration than the beauty of its plumage or the
excellence of its song. Hanging from the tip of the outermost bough of
a stately elm, it is almost inaccessible to depredators and so strongly
fastened as to bid defiance to the elements.
[37] _Icterus galbula._
Observation both in the field and laboratory shows that caterpillars
constitute the largest item of the fare of the oriole. In 204 stomachs
they formed 34 per cent of the food, and they are eaten in varying
quantities during all the months in which the bird remains in this
country. The fewest are eaten in July, when a little fruit also is
taken. The other insects consist of beetles, bugs, ants, wasps,
grasshoppers, and some spiders. The beetles are principally click
beetles, the larvæ of which are among the most destructive insects
known; and the bugs include plant and bark lice, both very harmful, but
so small and obscure as to be passed over unnoticed by most birds. Ants
are eaten mostly in spring, grasshoppers in July and August, and wasps
and spiders with considerable regularity throughout the season.
During the stay of the oriole in the United States, vegetable matter
amounts to only a little more than 16 per cent of its food, so that the
possibility of its doing much damage to crops is very limited. The bird
is accused of eating peas to a considerable extent, but remains of such
were found in only two cases. One writer says that it damages grapes,
but none were found in the stomachs.
BULLOCK ORIOLE.
The Bullock oriole[38] is practically a counterpart of the Baltimore
oriole, taking the place of that species west of the Plains and
throughout the Pacific coast region. It does not essentially differ in
its habits of nesting or in its food from its eastern relative, but it
is less beautiful in plumage. The examination of 162 stomachs shows
that 79 per cent of its food consists of insects, with a few spiders,
a lizard, a mollusk shell, and eggshells. Beetles amounted to 35 per
cent, and all except a few ladybugs were harmful species. Ants were
found in 19 stomachs, and in one there was nothing else. Bees, wasps,
etc., were in 56 stomachs, and entirely filled 2 of them. Including the
ants, they amount to nearly 15 per cent of the food of the season.
[38] _Icterus bullocki._
One of the most interesting articles of food in the oriole’s dietary
was the black olive scale, found in 45 stomachs, and amounting to 5
per cent of the food. In several cases these scales formed 80 per cent
or more of the contents, and in one, 30 individual scales could be
counted. They were evidently a standard article of diet, and were eaten
regularly in every month of the oriole’s stay except April. Hemipterous
insects other than scales, eaten quite regularly, make up a little more
than 5 per cent of the food. They were mostly stinkbugs, leaf hoppers,
and tree hoppers. Plant lice were found in one stomach.
Moths, pupæ, and caterpillars compose the largest item of the oriole’s
animal food. The average consumption during its summer stay is a
little more than 41 per cent. Of these, perhaps the most interesting
were the pupæ and larvæ of the codling moth. These were found in 23
stomachs, showing that they are not an unusual article of diet. No
less than 14 of the pupa cases were found in one stomach, and as they
are very fragile many others may have been present, but broken beyond
recognition.
Grasshoppers probably do not come much in the oriole’s way. They were
eaten, however, to the extent of a little more than 3 per cent. But in
spite of the fact that grasshoppers are eaten so sparingly, 2 stomachs,
both taken in June, contained nothing else, and another contained 97
per cent of them.
Various insects and spiders, with a few other items, make up the rest
of the animal food, a little more than 5 per cent. Spiders are not
important in the oriole’s food, but are probably eaten whenever found.
They were identified in 44 stomachs, but in small numbers. The scales
of a lizard were found in one stomach and the shell of a snail in
another.
The vegetable contingent of the oriole’s food is mostly fruit,
especially in June and July, when it takes kindly to cherries and
apricots, and sometimes eats more than the fruit grower considers a
fair share. However, no great complaint is made against the bird, and
it is probable that as a rule it does not do serious harm. With such a
good record as an insect eater it can well be spared a few cherries.
THE MEADOWLARKS.
The eastern meadowlark[39] (fig. 13) is a common and well-known bird
occurring from the Atlantic coast to the Great Plains, where it gives
way to the closely related western species,[40] which extends thence
westward to the Pacific. It winters from our southern border as far
north as the District of Columbia, southern Illinois, and occasionally
Iowa. The western form winters somewhat farther north. Although it is a
bird of the plains, and finds its most congenial haunts in the prairies
of the West, it is at home wherever there is level or undulating land
covered with grass or weeds, with plenty of water at hand.
[39] _Sturnella magna._
[40] _Sturnella neglecta._
In the 1,514 stomachs examined, animal food (practically all insects)
constituted 74 per cent of the contents and vegetable matter 26 per
cent. As would naturally be supposed, the insects were ground species,
as beetles, bugs, grasshoppers, and caterpillars, with a few flies,
wasps, and spiders. A number of the stomachs were collected when
the ground was covered with snow, but even these contained a large
percentage of insects, showing the bird’s skill in finding proper food
under adverse circumstances.
Of the various insects eaten, crickets and grasshoppers are the most
important, constituting 26 per cent of the food of the year and 72 per
cent of the food in August. It is scarcely necessary to mention the
beneficial effect of a number of these birds on a field of grass in the
height of the grasshopper season. Of the 1,514 stomachs collected at
all seasons of the year, 778, or more than half, contained remains of
grasshoppers, and one was filled with fragments of 37 of these insects.
This seems to show conclusively that grasshoppers are preferred, and
are eaten whenever they can be found. Especially notable is the great
number taken in August, the month when grasshoppers reach their maximum
abundance; stomach examination shows that large numbers of birds resort
at this time to this diet, no matter what may be the food during the
rest of the year.
[Illustration: Fig. 13.—Meadowlark. Length, about 10 inches.]
Next to grasshoppers, beetles make up the most important item of the
meadowlark’s food, amounting to 25 per cent, about one-half of which
are predacious ground beetles. The others are all harmful species.
Forty-two individuals of different kinds of May beetles were found in
the stomachs of meadowlarks, and there were probably many more which
were past recognition. To this form and several closely allied ones
belong the numerous white grubs, which are among the worst enemies to
many cultivated crops, notably grasses and grains, and to a less extent
strawberries and garden vegetables. In the larval stage they eat the
roots of these plants, and being large, one individual may destroy
several plants. In the adult stage they feed upon the foliage of trees
and other plants, and in this way add to the damage which they began
in the earlier form. As these enemies of husbandry are not easily
destroyed by man, it is obviously wise to encourage their natural foes.
Among the weevils found in the stomachs the most important economically
are the cotton-boll weevil and the recently introduced alfalfa weevil
of Utah. Several hundred meadowlarks were taken in the cotton-growing
region, and the boll weevil was found in 25 stomachs of the eastern
meadowlark and in 16 of the western species. Of the former, one stomach
contained 27 individuals. Of 25 stomachs of western meadowlarks taken
in alfalfa fields of Utah, 15 contained the alfalfa weevil. In one
stomach 23 adults were found, in another 32 adults and 70 larvæ, still
another had 10 adults and 40 larvæ, while a fourth had 4 adults and 100
larvæ.
Caterpillars form a very constant element of the food, and in May
constitute over 24 per cent of the whole. May is the month when the
dreaded cutworm begins its deadly career, and then the lark does some
of its best work. Most of these caterpillars are ground feeders, and
are overlooked by birds which habitually frequent trees, but the
meadowlark finds and devours them by thousands. The remainder of the
insect food is made up of ants, wasps, and spiders, with some bugs,
including chinch bugs, and a few scales.
The vegetable food consists of grain and weed and other hard seeds.
Grain in general amounts to 11 per cent and weed and other seeds to
7 per cent. Grain, principally corn, is eaten mostly in winter and
early spring and consists, therefore, of waste kernels; only a trifle
is consumed in summer and autumn, when it is most plentiful. No trace
of sprouting grain was discovered. Clover seed was found in only six
stomachs, and but little in each. Seeds of weeds, principally ragweed,
barnyard grass, and smartweed, are eaten from November to April,
inclusive, but during the rest of the year are replaced by insects.
Briefly stated, more than half of the meadowlark’s food consists of
harmful insects; its vegetable food is composed either of noxious
weeds or waste grain, and the remainder is made up of useful beetles
or neutral insects and spiders. A strong point in the bird’s favor
is that, although naturally an insect eater, it is able to subsist
on vegetable food, and consequently is not forced to migrate in cold
weather farther than is necessary to find ground free from snow.
THE RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS.
The red-winged or swamp blackbird[41] in its various forms (fig. 14)
is found all over the United States and the region immediately to the
north. While 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.
[41] _Agelaius phœniceus._
Three species and several subspecies of red-wings are recognized,[42]
but practically 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.
[42] _Agelaius phœniceus_ (8 forms), _Agelaius gubernator_, and
_Agelaius tricolor_.
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 abundant than in the West and South.
[Illustration: Fig. 14.—Red-winged blackbird. Length, about 9½ inches.]
Examination of 1,083 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 the bird should be protected, except,
perhaps, in a few places where it is overabundant.
BOBOLINK.
[Illustration: Fig. 15.—Bobolink, rice bird, or reed bird. Length,
about 7 inches.]
The bobolink, rice bird, or reed bird[43] (fig. 15) is a common summer
resident of the United States, north of about latitude 40°, and from
New England westward to the Great Plains, wintering beyond our southern
border. In New England there are few birds about which so much romance
clusters as this rollicking songster, naturally associated with sunny
June meadows; but in the South there are none on whose head so many
maledictions have been heaped on account of its fondness for rice.
During its sojourn in the Northern States it feeds mainly upon insects
and seeds of useless plants; but while rearing its young, insects
constitute its chief food, and almost the exclusive diet of its brood.
After the young are able to fly, the whole family gathers into a small
flock and begins to live almost entirely upon vegetable food. This
consists for the most part of weed seeds, since in the North these
birds do not appear to attack grain to any great extent. They eat a
few oats, but their stomachs do not reveal a great quantity of this or
any other grain. As the season advances they gather into larger flocks
and move southward, until by the end of August nearly all have left
their breeding grounds. On their way they frequent the reedy marshes
about the mouths of rivers and on the inland waters of the coast region
and subsist largely upon wild rice. In the Middle States, during
their southward migration, they are commonly known as reed birds, and
becoming very fat are treated as game.
[43] _Dolichonyx oryzivorus._
Formerly, when the low marshy shores of the Carolinas and some of
the more southern States were devoted to rice culture the bobolinks
made great havoc both upon the sprouting rice in spring and upon the
ripening grain on their return migration in the fall. With a change in
the rice-raising districts, however, this damage is no longer done.
CROW.
In one or another of its geographic races the common crow[44] (fig. 16)
breeds in great numbers throughout the States east of the Plains and
from the Gulf well up into Canada, while in less abundance it is found
in California and in the Northwestern States. During the colder months
a southern migratory movement brings most of these birds within the
borders of the United States, and at about the latitude of Philadelphia
and southern Illinois we find them congregating nightly in roosts.
Farmers dwelling in the vicinity of such roosts frequently suffer
losses to shocked corn.
[44] _Corvus brachyrhynchos._
In fact none of our native birds so much concerns the average farmer of
the Eastern States as the common crow. Many of our present criticisms
of this bird, as its pulling sprouting corn, feeding on ripening ears,
damaging fruits of various kinds, destroying poultry and wild birds,
and disseminating diseases of live stock, were common complaints in the
days of the early colonists. Many of the virtues of the crow, now quite
generally recognized, also have been matters of record for many years.
In recent times, however, scientific study of these problems, including
the examination of the stomachs of hundreds of crows secured in every
month of the year and under a variety of conditions, has enabled us to
render a much fairer verdict than was formerly possible.
The crow is practically omnivorous. During spring and early summer any
form of insect life seems to make a desirable item in its diet, and in
winter when hard pressed nothing in the animal or vegetable kingdoms
which contains a morsel of nutriment is overlooked.
The insect food of the crow, which comprises about a fifth of
its yearly sustenance, does much to atone for its misdemeanors.
Grasshoppers, May beetles and their larvæ (white grubs), caterpillars,
weevils, and wireworms stand out prominently. In 1,103 stomachs
examined these highly injurious forms comprised over 80 per cent of the
insect food. Grasshoppers are naturally taken in greatest abundance
late in the season, September being the month of largest consumption,
when they form about a fifth of the total food. May beetles and
white grubs are eaten in every month except January, but occur most
prominently in May. In June caterpillars are a favorite food, and
weevils of various kinds are taken in varying quantities throughout
summer and fall. About half of the remaining 20 per cent of insect food
is composed of beneficial ground beetles, ladybirds, predacious bugs,
and parasitic wasps, and related forms, the rest consisting of neutral
or injurious forms. Numerous instances are on record where fields badly
infested with white grubs or grasshoppers have been favorite resorts
of crows, whose voracity has resulted in a material suppression of the
pest. When the amount of food required to sustain the individual crow
is considered, the work of these birds appears all the more important.
Single stomachs containing upward of 50 grasshoppers are not uncommon.
Thus in its choice of insect food the crow is rendering an important
service to the farmer.
[Illustration: Fig. 16.—Crow. Length, about 19 inches.]
In the other animal food of the crow are several items of the utmost
economic importance. Spiders are taken in considerable numbers in May
and June, but the yearly total is a little over 1 per cent of the
food. In early spring crawfish are eagerly sought, and other aquatic
food as fish and mollusks lend variety to the crow’s bill of fare the
year round. In the consumption of toads, salamanders, frogs, and some
snakes, which together compose a little over 2 per cent of the yearly
food, the crow is doubtless doing harm. Small rodents occurred in the
stomachs collected nearly every month, but it is often difficult to
determine whether small mammals found in birds’ stomachs were taken
alive or found dead.
From its carrion-eating habits the crow has been unfairly criticized as
a disseminator of live-stock diseases. While this may be to some extent
just, the fact that there are many other important carriers which lie
largely beyond our control, shows that we must seek final relief only
through the strictest methods of sanitation.
The nest-robbing habit of the crow, long a serious criticism, is
verified by stomach analysis. Fifty of the 1,103 crows examined had fed
on wild birds or their eggs, and the eggs of domestic fowls were found
slightly more frequently. The crow’s habit of rummaging about garbage
piles may explain much of this latter material.
Of the vegetable food, corn, which is eaten every month, is the most
important item and forms about a third of the yearly diet. Much of
this, however, must be considered waste. Over 60 per cent is consumed
from the first of November to the end of March. During the periods when
corn is sprouting and when in the “roasting-ear” stage the crow is
eating this grain at a rate considerably less than the yearly average,
and the months of smallest consumption are July and August. At times,
however, the damage to corn becomes a serious problem, and were it not
possible to make use of such deterrents as coal tar upon seed corn
there would be little friendship for the crow in some sections of the
East. The “pulling” of corn is a trait most prevalent in small-field
areas. Wheat and oats suffer similar damage at times, especially in the
Northwestern States, where these grains predominate. About the only
safeguard to ripening grain is the constant use of powder and shot or
the scarecrow.
Various kinds of cultivated fruits also are eaten, and local damage
to such crops as apples, melons, peas, beans, peanuts, and almonds is
occasionally reported. In long, rigorous winters, the crow, like other
birds, resorts to the fruit of numerous wild plants, as dogwood, sour
gum, hackberry, smilax, and the several species of sumac and poison ivy.
Damage to the eggs of poultry may be reduced to a minimum by careful
housing of laying hens, and the farmer can protect his sprouting grain
to a large extent by the use of tar-coated seed. It will be well also
to keep the crow within reasonable numbers on game preserves and public
parks where it is desired to encourage the nesting of smaller birds.
While legal protection is not needed for so wary an individual as the
crow, it seems well, where local conditions have not aggravated some
particular shortcomings of the bird, to allow it to continue the good
services rendered to man in the destruction of noxious insects.
BLUE JAY.
The blue jay[45] (fig. 17) is a conspicuous member of our bird
population east of the Plains, especially in autumn when his brilliant
plumage contrasts vividly with the brown foliage. Even in winter he
stays with us, though at this time he is less common along our northern
border. In spring and summer, while by no means uncommon, the blue jay
is not so often noticed, as the retiring disposition which he assumes
during the breeding season assists in protecting him from enemies. This
also allows him to carry on with considerable impunity that inglorious
practice of nest robbing of which, in a measure, he has been rightfully
accused.
[45] _Cyanocitta cristata._
[Illustration: Fig. 17.—Blue jay. Length, about 11½ inches.]