DICKCISSEL 179 



A conservative estimate shows the two adults and their four young ate 

 about 200 grasshoppers daily. 



At this rate the Illinois dickcissels, estimated to number more than 

 1,000,000, destroyed about 100,000,000 grasshoppers in a single day 

 during the nesting season. As Prof, Lawrence Bruner, entomologist 

 of the Nebraska Experiment Station, estimates each grasshopper eats 

 about one and a half times its own weight or about 0.05 ounces of 

 grass per day, 100,000,000 grasshoppers destroy about 156 tons. 

 Hay during the summer of 1918 brought about $30 per ton. Hence 

 the Illinois dickcissels saved the State about $4,680 daily during the 

 nesting season by the destruction of grasshoppers alone. Though 

 the bird's great value may not be fully appreciated by the average 

 farmer, the dickcissel nevertheless is a favorite with many of them. 

 No well-informed farmer wantonly destroys them, nor does he willingly 

 permit anyone else to do so. This strong popular sentiment has been 

 an important factor in their recent increase and extension of range 

 throughout the Middle West. 



In their winter habitat the dickcissels Hve chiefly on weed and grass 

 seeds and grain. Alexander Skutch has sent us the following observa- 

 tions on their food at San Isidro del General, Costa Rica: "Along 

 the meandering Quebrada de las Vueltas was a level of rice several 

 acres in extent. I first saw dickcissels in some bushes early in the 

 morning of January 26, the day when the farmer began to harvest 

 his rice. Later in the morning I watched one of these birds eating 

 grain at the edge of the field, as doubtless other members of the flock 

 were doing deeper in the stand of rice where I could not see them. 

 Despite the removal of the standing grain, the flock of dickcissels con- 

 tinued for the next 2 months to frequent the vicinity, possibly finding 

 fallen grains amidst the stubble." Near Los Amates in the Caribbean 

 lowlands of Guatemala Skutch watched dickcissels and blue gros- 

 beaks feeding on the pollen of bamboo flowers in tall timber bamboos 

 near the Rio Morja. 



The many dickcissels now wintering in New England have food 

 habits similar to those of the house sparrow with which they frequently 

 associate. Both species visit feeding stations and feeding shelves 

 for various seeds and grain. The dickcissels seem especially fond of 

 millet. 



Economic status. — In a statistical ornithological survey Forbes 

 (1907, 1908, 1921) and Gross (1921) made in Illinois in 1906-1907 

 and 1909, the dickcissel ranked fifth in a fist of 85 species recorded 

 for the whole State during the summer of 1907, with an average of 

 32.2 birds per square mile. In 1909 it stood 11th among 117 species 

 in abundance, with an average of 18.0 birds per square mile. As 

 has already been stated, the dickcissel population fluctuates greatly 



646-737— 68— pt. 1 14 



