STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



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twenty years of time and twelve hundred miles of territory. The grass- 

 hoppers were all of the genus Tettigielia, abundant in early spring, when 

 other grasshoppers are rare. 



While a few grasshoppers more or less may seem a matter of little 

 moment, we should figure to ourselves the results sure to follow if birds 

 were not to keep them down. Many of the services done us by birds are 

 of this unobtrusive kind. They protect us so completely that we are not 

 even aware of the threatened injury, and thus give them no credit for 

 their aid. The only harm done by these birds in this month was the 

 destruction of a few predaceous beetles and soldier-bugs, aggregating 

 about two per cent, of their food. 



In April eleven specimens were taken. The food in this month was 

 much more varied, but consisted almost wholly of insects. The most 

 important items were caterpillars, thirty-two per cent.; predaceous ground- 

 beetles, twenty-three per cent.; and scavenger-beetles, twelve-and-one-half 

 per cent. — these three elements thus constituting nearly seventy per cent, of 

 the food. Minor items are, larvae of Bibio albipennis, five per cent.; leaf- 

 chafers, seven per cent.; curculios, three per cent.; cethoptera, six per cent. 



An unexpected fact appears here, viz.: that these birds have appar- 

 ently done very much more harm than good during this month, eating 

 predaceous beetles which would probably have destroyed many more 

 noxious insects than were found in their own stomachs. These beetles 

 were of the genera Amara, Geopinis, Agonoderus, Anisodactylus and Har- 

 palus, none suspected of doing any serious injury, although Amara is said 

 to feed sometimes on vegetable substances. The importance of the cater- 

 pillar element should be noted, nearly one-third of the food being made 

 up of it. A number of cut-worms and measuring-worms were recognized, 

 and a few that were apparently Arctians. Both these and the predaceous 

 beetles were eaten quite generally by the birds — the former by ten out of 

 the eleven, the latter by eight, so that the large percentages were not due 

 to the fact that one or two birds had accidentally stuffed themselves with 

 these insects. 



But four birds shot in May were examined, and these indicated one 

 important change in the food, the diminution of the number of preda- 

 ceous beetles and the apparent substitution therefor of adult crane-flies 

 {Tipulidce), which in this month are abundant in their winged form. 

 Caterpillars were eaten in about the same numbers as before (thirty-three 

 per cent.), but the Carabidas are reduced to four per cent., while the 

 crane-flies furnished twenty-four per cent, of the food. One bird had 

 eaten a number of wire-worms and one had eaten one potato-beetle. We 

 will not throw up our hats for the robin on this account, for if it takes 

 forty-one robins to catch one potato-beetle, it would probably take the 

 whole species to raise an acre of potatoes. 



Seven per cent, of the food of these birds consisted of herbivorous 

 thousand-legs {Dipiopoda). Only the above-mentioned four per cent, of 

 the food indicated any injury done. The falling off in the number of 

 scavenger-beetles is also noticeable, these constituting, this month, only 

 one per cent, of the food. 

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