268 CONNECTICUT GEOL. AND NAT. HIST. SURVEY. [Bull. 



" Shore birds are fond of other insect pests of forage and 

 grain crops, including the army-worm, which is known to be 

 eaten by the Killdeer and Spotted Sandpiper; also cut-worms, 

 among whose enemies are the Avocet, Woodcock, Pectoral and 

 Raird Sandpipers, Upland Plover and Killdeer. 



*' The principal farm crops have many destructive beetle ene- 

 mies also, and some of these are eagerly eaten by shore birds. 

 Bill-bugs, which often do considerable damage to corn, seem to 

 be the favorite food of some of the shore birds." 



" The economic record of the shore birds deserves nothing 

 but praise. These birds injure no crop, but on the contrary feed 

 upon many of the worst enemies of agriculture. It is worth 

 recalling that their diet includes such pests as the Rocky Moun- 

 tain locust and other injurious grasshoppers, the army-worm, 

 cutworms, cabbage worms, cotton worm, cotton cutworm, boll 

 weevil, clover-leaf weevil, clover-root curculio, rice weevil, corn 

 bill-bugs, wire- worms, corn-leaf beetles, cucumber beetles, white 

 grubs, and such foes of stock as the Texas fever tick, horseflies, 

 and mosquitoes. Their warfare on crayfishes must not be over- 

 looked, nor must we forget the more personal debt of gratitude 

 we owe them for preying upon mosquitoes. They are the most 

 important bird enemies of these pests known to us. 



" Shore birds have been hunted until only a remnant of their 

 once vast numbers is left. Their limited powers of reproduction, 

 coupled with the natural vicissitudes of the breeding period, make 

 their increase slow, and peculiarly expose them to the danger of 

 extermination. They should be protected, first, to save them 

 from the danger of extermination, and, second, because of their 

 economic importance. So great, indeed, is their economic value, 

 that their retention on the game list and their destruction by 

 sportsmen is a serious loss to agriculture." 



GROUSE, PARTRIDGES, and QUAILS. 



Tetraonidcc and Odontophoridce. 



Of the usefulness of the Bob-white or Quail (Colinus z'ir- 

 ginianus Virginian us) from the sportsman's standpoint it is un- 

 necessary to speak, but that its importance to agriculture is even 

 greater Dr. Sylvester D. Judd has abundantly shown in the Year 

 Book of the Department of Agriculture for 1903 ("The Economic 



