1914] The Ottawa Naturalist. 121 



an estimate of the number of holes to a square yard, I fotuid 

 these to approximate slightly more than three. Supposing 

 that each hole represented a white grub, and there is little doubt 

 about this, then the total grubs destroyed, to an acre, wotild 

 be 14,520. That is to say, 116,160 in the eight acres. To any- 

 one not accustomed to skunks' habits, the discovery of white 

 grubs under ground many seem qtiestionable, but not to those 

 who know, as a matter of fact these animals collect practicall}^ 

 all their food by scent. 



Naturally skunks, like many other animals, do some harm 

 by eating useful insects, in fact they will even relish a Calosoma 

 beetle. They also destroy some birds' eggs and occasionally 

 raid a poultry house, but their value cannot, I think, be ques- 

 tioned. 



Writing of white grubs reminds me of another enemy they 

 have to contend against and that is our old and cheerv friend the 

 robin. In the east robins are industrious workers on our lawns, 

 the food they seek there being largely earthworms. In Man- 

 itoba, however, and westward to the Rockies, earthworms are 

 scarce, but in places at least, there are lots of white grubs, 

 which though located below the ground are, as a rule, discovered 

 with comparative ease by the robins. How thev manage it 

 I do not know, but that they do so I have seen demonstrated 

 on a number of occasions, when a small f^ock made a badly 

 infested field their daily feeding ground before the breeding 

 season commenced. 



Flickers and crows also rank high as white grub destroyers 

 in late May. The former, however, do not trouble themselves 

 so much about white grubs when other insects, such as grass- 

 hoppers and ants, are available. 



It is, however, by following the plough and picking 

 up the grubs exposed that the work of the crow ranks 

 highest. In the open wooded districts preferred alike as breed- 

 ing places by crows and June Beetles, one will often turn up the 

 grubs in large numbers, but in my experience seldom in quan- 

 tity too numerous for the birds following the olough. A flock 

 of twenty-five or more crows following diligently behind in the 

 furrow, have been my companions through many a day's plough- 

 ing in early summer, while in their company were the usual 

 blackbirds and grackles, all occupied in the same task. 



A little friend of mine, with, I am sorry to sav, a bad name, 

 is also very evident, I refer to the cowbird, with whom, in cheerful 

 impudence, there are few to compare. They have no more 

 fear of sitting upon an animal's back to pick off the flies than 

 they have of running beneath one, or being shoved out of the 

 way by its nose. As destroyers of grubs, they are excellent, 



