ZOOLOGY. 751 



9 had eaten the orange and hhick k>ciist beetle. 18 of these being taken 

 from one stomach. 



To determine whether wihl fruits are preferred to cultivated fruits 

 and noxious inse<'ts to beneficial insects, a number of experiments were 

 luade with captive birds. From these it appears that smootli caterpil- 

 lars, maggots, ants, and spiders are relished; that beetles of the family 

 LaiU])yridii' may be eaten under stress of hunger, and tliat hairy cater- 

 pillars, butterflies, honeybees, slugs, sow l)ugs, and plant lice are not 

 relished. Tbousaiul legs may l)e taken. Earthworms were not found 

 at all, and the author suggests that these are not eaten by birds, 

 including the robin, to such an extent as is commonly supposed. 



With respect to the brown thrasher, more or less similar conclusions 

 are arrived at, but the proportion of animal to vegetable food is much 

 greater, being 6o.o5 for the season as compared with 44.55 for the cat- 

 bird for the same period. 



The bird's preferences are shown by the fact that of its animal food 

 nearly one-half consists of beetles, one-tifth of grasslio])pers and crickets, 

 a little less of caterpillars, and one-tenth of spiders and thousand legs. 



The vegetable food of the wren, as shown by the table, amounts to 

 only 1 per cent, and the author suggests that this may have been taken 

 by accident. 



The meadow lark and Baltimore oriole, F. E. L. Beal ( U. S. Depf. 

 Agr. Yearhool- 1895, pp. 419-430, Jigs. 3).— The examination of 238 

 stomachs of the meadow lark, collected from 24 States, the District of 

 Columbia, and Canada, and representing every month in the year, dem- 

 onstrates that the bird is most emphatically insectivorous, although in 

 the absence of its favorite food it is capable of subsisting upon a vege- 

 table diet. This latter fact, the author points out, renders the bird 

 more valuable than if it were exclusively insectivorous, since such a 

 capability enables it to bridge over periods of scarcity in its favorite 

 food by comparatively short migrations. 



The total amount of vegetable food for the entire year was found to 

 be only 27 per cent, 11.1 per cent being corn, 1.8 wheat, and 1.4 per 

 cent oats. The greatest amount of grain was eaten during January; 

 and during the summer this was entirely replaced by insect food. 

 Sprouting grain was not found in a single case. 



Much the greater portion of the vegetable diet consisted of weed 

 seeds, and some of these were found throughout the year, except the 

 month of May, the greatest aiuount being found in J)ecember, with one 

 exception. 



Newly sown clover seed was found in only 6 stomachs out of the whole 

 238 examined. During harvest the grain eaten amounted to less than 

 1 per cent, and during November, when insect food usually begins to 

 ftul, the grain amounted to only (i per cent, while weed seeds (Ambrosia, 

 Channeraphis, etc.) reached as high as 15 i)er cent. 



For the entire year 71.7 per cent of the food was composed of insects 

 and 26.5 vegetable material, the remaining 1.8 per cent being mineral 



