Xo. 20.] THE BIRDS OF CONNECTICUT. 269 



Value of the Bob-white "). Dr. Judd finds that " the Bob-white 



is probably the most useful abundant species on the farm. It is 

 one of the most nearly omnivorous birds, consuming large quanti- 

 ties of weed seeds, and destroying many of the worst insect pests 

 with which the farmer has to contend. It does not injure grain, 

 fruit, or any other crop. 



" In the investigation 801 stomachs were examined, collected 

 in every month of the year, though mostly during the hunting 



season, and obtained from twenty-one different states 



As indicated by this material, the Bob-white is notable for the 

 great variety of its food. It lives mainly on seeds, fruits, leaves, 

 buds, insects, and spiders, though myriapods, crustaceans, mol- 

 lusks, and even batrachians have been found in its stomach. The 

 character of the diet varies with the season. The greatest pro- 

 portion of animal matter is taken in late spring and early sum- 

 mer. The food for the year, as a whole, estimated from the 

 analysis of the contents of stomachs and calculated by volume, 

 is divided thus : animal matter, 14.93 per cent ; vegetable matter, 

 85.07 per cent. The elements of the animal food are distributed 

 as follows : beetles, 6.38 per cent of the total food ; grasshoppers, 

 2.56 per cent ; bugs, 2.83 per cent ; caterpillars, 0.87 per cent ; 

 miscellaneous insects, 0.48 per cent ; the other invertebrates, 

 largely spiders, 1.81 per cent. The vegetable food consists of 

 grain, 23.64 per cent of the total food ; various seeds, chiefly 

 those of weeds, 50.78 per cent ; fruit, 8.53 per cent ; miscellaneous 

 vegetable matter, 2.12 per cent. 



" The Bob-white is pre-eminently a seed eater. Of its food 

 for the year, as a whole, seeds form 50.78 per cent, and include 

 those of many different plants. 



" The bulk of this seed diet consists of the seeds of weeds. 

 Fully sixty different weeds are represented in the food, and con- 

 stitute more than a third of the food for the year as a whole. 

 Some idea of the value of the bird as a weed destroyer may 

 be gained from the number of seeds taken at a meal. Thirty 

 buttonweed seeds, 200 to 300 smartweed seeds, often 500 seeds 

 of sheep sorrel, and 700 of three-seeded mercury have 

 been taken at one feeding. Crops and stomachs are fre- 

 quently crammed with nothing but ragweed. One bird, taken 

 at Marshall Hall, Md., November 6, 1902, had eaten a thousand 



