430 BULLETIN 195, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



E. R. Kalmbach (1914) showed that, where the sagebrush areas ap- 

 proach the borders of alfalfa fields, this bird makes itself useful by 

 destroying alfalfa weevils. In bulk, this weevil — 



formed about an eighth of the food and was present in 7 of the stomachs. The 

 best work appeared to be done in June, when the insect was eaten at the rate of 

 3 adults and 6 larvae per bird. One bird had eaten 3 adults and at least 34 larvae, 

 which composed 44 percent of the stomach contents. 



Ground beetles were present in all but two of the stomachs examined and 

 formed about 30 percent of the food in June and a lesser amount in April and 

 July. These beetles and a trace of an ant formed the entire contents of one 

 stomach. Darkling beetles of the genera Blapstinus and Eleodes also were fre- 

 quently eaten, composing a fifth of the food. Hymenoptera, spiders, and cater- 

 pillars were other important ingredients. The only vegetable food was a quantity 

 of currants found in one stomach. 



Ira La Rivers (1941) gives the sage thrasher credit for being one of 

 the three species that "fed most destructf ully" on the Mormon cricket 

 (AThobncs simplex). "Eggs as well as adults were consumed. From 

 my observations, the thrasher played nearly as important a role in 

 the destruction of cricket egg-beds as did the more conspicuous West- 

 ern Meadowlark. * * * The cricket, actually a long-horned grass- 

 hopper, yearly causes damage in Elko, Eureka, Lander, and Humboldt 

 counties, Nevada, by destroying large quantities of range and field 

 forage, crops, and garden stuffs." He found this thrasher feeding 

 not only on the migrating crickets, in company with mice and shrews, 

 "but also digging up crickets from partly-finished wasp burrows. One 

 individual was surprised in the act of eating a black wasp {Ohlorion 

 laeviventris) which had been left by a marauding shrew." 



Mrs. Bailey (1928) says that it also eats locusts, and gives one record 

 of 62 percent grasshoppers. In a considerable tract of gooseberry 

 brush, Dr. Taylor (1912) noted that "hundreds of sage thrashers, in 

 company with large numbers of Brewer sparrows, green-tailed tow- 

 hees, and fox sparrows, were feeding on the berries." 



Mr. Dawson (1923) writes: "At the close of the season, or when the 

 young are able to fly well, the birds, all absolutely silent now, resort in 

 numbers to the hillside springs and brushy draws to feed on berries, — 

 wild currants, wild gooseberries, and to lesser extent, service berries. 

 This fondness for small fruit has betrayed the birds into conspicuous 

 mischief in the case of isolated ranches and pioneer reclamation proj- 

 ects. Almost devoid of fear, the birds troup into the gardens in late 

 July and August to strip the currant bushes or blackberries, and later 

 the grapevines." 



Clarence Hamilton Kennedy (1911) reports serious damage to small 

 fruits and grapes on his ranch in the Yakima Valley, Wash. : 



During the latter half of May, families of Sage Thrashers drift down into the 

 irrigated ranches and begin their season of fruit-eating with the black-cap raspber- 

 ries, which are then beginning to ripen. ♦ ♦ * During the entire summer's 



