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 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 few complaints come from the northeastern section, where the bird is much less abundant than in the West and South.
