The Birds of Wyoming. 13 



leave their haunts and make excursions into the surrounding 

 country where in summer they feed upon locusts, beetles and 

 other injurious insects. They also partake of considerable 

 quantities of vegetable food, as grains, weed seeds, grasses and 

 other herbage. While not included among the insectivorous 

 forms these birds do much towards diminishing the ever in- 

 creasing horde of creeping and jumping things. Ducks and 

 geese on the other hand are largely utilized by us as food ; 

 while their feathers make comfortable pillows and coverlets. 



"The Herons, Cranes, and Rails are frequenters of 

 marshes and the margins of streams and bodies of water, where 

 they assist in keeping the various forms among the animal life 

 balanced. Fishes, frogs, snails, insects, and crustaceans are 

 alike devoured by them. 



"The Snipe, Sandpipers, Plovers, Phalaropes, Curlews, 

 etc., are great destroyers of insects. Moving as many of them 

 do in great flocks and spreading out over the meadows, pas- 

 tures, and hillsides, as well as among the cultivated fields, they 

 do a large amount of careful police service in arresting the cul- 

 prits among insects. They even pry them out of burrows and 

 crevices in the earth where these creatures lurk during day- 

 time only to come forth after nightfall to destroy vegetation. 

 The large flocks of Eskimo Curlews that formerly passed 

 through eastern Nebraska did magnificent work during years 

 when the Rocky Mountain Locust was with us, as did also 

 the equally large flocks of Golden Plovers. The Bartramian 

 Sandpiper even now is a great factor each summer in check- 

 ing the increasing locusts on our prairies. 



"The various members of the Grouse family, while be- 

 longing to a grain-eating group, are certainly quite prominent 

 as insect destroyers. Especially is this true with respect to 

 the Quail, Prairie Hen, Sharp-tailed Grouse, and Wild Tur- 

 key, all of which are occupied most of the summer months in 

 capturing and destroying vast numbers of such insects as are 

 found on the prairies. Grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, cater- 



