. Food of the bobolink, blackbirds, and grackles . sting places for redwings, and con-sequently this region has become the great breeding ground for the 1 The different subspecies are not considered separately in this —No. 13-—3 34 FOOD OF BOBOLINK, BLACKBIRDS, AND GRACKLES. species. In many places, especialty on the borders of shallow lakes,thousands of acres of rashes and reeds of various kinds afford nestingsites for redwings, yellowheads, and marsh wrens, while myriads ofmore aquatic species swim in the waters below and nest amid thebroken herbage. It is from such breeding gro
. Food of the bobolink, blackbirds, and grackles . sting places for redwings, and con-sequently this region has become the great breeding ground for the 1 The different subspecies are not considered separately in this —No. 13-—3 34 FOOD OF BOBOLINK, BLACKBIRDS, AND GRACKLES. species. In many places, especialty on the borders of shallow lakes,thousands of acres of rashes and reeds of various kinds afford nestingsites for redwings, yellowheads, and marsh wrens, while myriads ofmore aquatic species swim in the waters below and nest amid thebroken herbage. It is from such breeding grounds that the vastflocks are recruited that make such havoc upon fields of grain and callforth the maledictions of the unfortunate farmer. East of the Appa-lachian Range the conditions are different. Marshes on the shores oflakes, rivers, and estuaries are here the only sites available for breed-ing purposes, and as these are more restricted in number and areathan the western breeding grounds the species is much less abundantthan in the Fig. 4.—Red-winged blackbird. Like their associates, the marsh wrens, and their neighbors, thebank swallows, the redwings are eminently gregarious, living in flocksfor the greater part of the time and breeding in communities whichvary in size according to the area of the swamp they occupy. Some-times these colonies are reduced to a single family, which in suchcases usually consists of one male bird with several females and theirnests; for this species practices polygamy, a habit noted in the caseof only a few species of song birds. During the winter the redwings are in the South, but may occasion-ally befound as far north as latitude 40°, and stragglers may occur atany point within their summer range. (A young male was shot by thewriter in central Iowa in January, 1879, and one bird whose stomach THE RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD. 35 is included in this investigation was killed in northern Massachusettson January 29, 1896.) In their northwa
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