190 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



entirely either on the ground or from trees or shrubs. In the first class, 

 besides some rare birds which we do not need to mention here, the fol- 

 lowing are found common in most parts of our Province : the swallows, 

 Hirundini'dcc ; kingbird, Tyrannus Carolinensis , pewee, Sayornis fus&is, 

 and nighthawk, Chofdeiles popetuc. The food of these birds consists chiefly 

 of flies, a large proportion of which cannot be said to be either noxious 

 or beneficial ; many of them in the earlier stages of their existence live 

 in the water, where they devour decaying vegetation or feast on the lower 

 and simpler forms of animal and vegetable life. The larvae of many 

 others are scavengers, devouring decaying or putrescent animal and vege- 

 table matter, and hence well deserve to be classed with beneficial insects. 

 In the same class of friendly species will rank a considerable number of 

 others which are parasitic on the bodies of caterpillars, also the rapacious 

 species who sustain themselves by devouring the weaker and less vigorous 

 of their race. A few rare exceptions, of which the wheat midge and 

 Hessian fly may be noted as examples, are very injurious to field crops, 

 while the mosquito and black fly are universally branded as enemies to 

 the human race. These birds also devour a few butterflies and moths, 

 but these, with few exceptions, are harmless. The question, then, to what 

 extent these purely insectivorous birds are beneficial to the farmer or fruit 

 grower, reasonably admits of much difference pf opinion, for while they 

 do devour a few of our tormentors, they probably destroy a much larger 

 number of beneficial insects, the main bulk of their food, however, con- 

 sisting of harmless species. Doubtless they serve a purpose in maintaining 

 a proper balance among the insect hosts, and between animal and vege- 

 table life, but that their service in these departments is so all-important as 

 some would urge admits of grave doubt. 



The birds of the second division, namely, those who take their food 

 partly on the wing and partly from trees and shrubs, or on the ground, are 

 not entirely insectivorous. The remarks just made in reference to the 

 first class will apply also to this as far as their food is taken on the wing, 

 but on trees or shrubs, or on the ground, they consume insects of entirely 

 different classes, chiefly beetles and the caterpillars of moths and butter- 

 flies. The beetles admit of a similar division to that of the flies already 

 noticed ; the larger number are harmless, a large proportion of the 

 remainder are beneficial, and a few are injurious. Most of the caterpillars 

 of moths and butterflies are harmless, feeding in limited numbers on a 

 great diversity of shrubs and trees of little or no economic importance, 



