528 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



food and reach their highest proportion (19.5 per cent) in July. Cater- 

 pillars are an important element only in March, August (11.4 per cent), 

 and September. Insect eggs are frequently met with. 



In eleven cases egg shells were found, but these were identified as 

 those of common hens' eggs or of a bird of equal size. In no instance 

 was evidence found of the eggs of wild birds. 



The vegetable food consists of grain, mast, seeds, fruit, and miscella- 

 neous fragments. The grain, except corn, forms only an insignificant 

 part (1.3 per cent). Corn aggregates 17.9 per cent of the annual food, 

 but is over 3 per cent less than tbat eaten by the crow and about 17 

 per cent less than that eaten by the crow blackbird. In January it 

 amounts to 56 per cent of the food. Mast is a fairly constant element 

 compared with corn, averaging 42 per cent, and seems to be preferred. 

 The amount of fruit eaten reaches more than 35 per cent in July, but 

 it does not demonstrate serious depredations upon cultivated fruit. 



In an experiment with a bird in captivity, it was found that scara- 

 breids were preferred to carabids or tenebrionids, though none were 

 rejected. Crysomelids, however, were generally rejected. Elaterids 

 were preferred to cerambycids. 



The extermination of noxious animals by bounties, T. S. Pal- 

 mer ( U. 8. Dept. A (jr. Yearbook 1896, pp. 55-68). — The author considers 

 the demand for bounties, and notes that the most persistent demands 

 have come from sheep and cattle owners. The history of bounty legis- 

 lation in the United States is reviewed, and the requisites of any 

 scheme for the extermination of a species in order to be practical are 

 summarized. Notwithstanding the apparent simplicity and economy 

 of the bounty system, it has proved costly and unsatisfactory in prac- 

 tice, as seems to be attested by the fact that over 300 laws have been 

 enacted in the United States. 



In the Great Plains region the warfare upon the rodents has proved 

 very expensive and ineffective. Since 1875 great efforts have been 

 made against hawks and owls. The cost of such laws is shown by 

 estimates to greatly exceed the good they do. In Pennsylvania nearly 

 $90,000 was expended to prevent an estimated possible loss of $1,875 

 to the poultry industry and at the same time to destroy birds that 

 might have saved an estimated damage of $3,857,130 from mice, upon 

 which they chiefly live. 



It is estimated that the total expenditure for bounties in the various 

 States and Territories during the last quarter century aggregates more 

 than $3,000,000. In L'9 States and Territories from which data were 

 more or less completely collected there has been an expenditure of 

 $2,387,301. 



The objections to the bounty system are thought to be serious. 



The great objection where the bounty is paid from the county treas- 

 uries lies in the difficulty of securing uniformity of action in different 

 counties aud in the varying rates that are paid. Bounties may be so 



