1O WyYoMING BIRDS. 
said that young nestling birds seem to be all mouth and 
stomach. ‘These facts become significant when you con- 
sider that if human beings ate at the same rate, one man 
would require about one hundred pounds of beef steak per 
day, and the high cost of living would become a problem, 
sure enough. 
The United States Department of Agriculture employs a 
number of reliable scientific men to investigate and report 
on the food and habits of birds. These men are publishing 
interesting figures to show the economic importance of this 
eroup of animals. ‘The following figures are taken largely 
from these reports. 
SOME SPECIFIC EXAMPLES. 
tr. “A Palm Warbler has been seen to capture from 40 
to 60 insects per minute. It worked at this rate for four 
hours and, therefore, must have gathered about nine thou- 
sand five hundred insects in that time.” 
2. A Northern Yellow-throat ate eighty-nine aphids in 
a minute and worked at this rate for forty minutes. 
3. A Nashville Warbler ate forty-two Brown Tail Cat- 
erpillars in thirty minutes. 
4. Prof. Beal of the U. S$. Department of Agriculture 
has reported that seventy entire grasshoppers and the jaws 
of fifty-six more were taken from the stomach of a Frank- 
lin’s Gull. 
5. Dr. Judd is authority for the statement that seventeen 
hundred weed seeds were taken from the stomach of a 
Bob-white. 
6. ‘The stomachs of Sparrows are always found full of 
weed seeds and, being so numerous, they must be regarded 
as important factors in checking weeds. 
7. Prof. Aughey states that, during the locust outbreak 
in Nebraska, he saw a pair of Iong-billed Marsh Wrens 
