64 BULLETIN 17 9, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Coleoptera (beetles), and Orthoptera (grasshoppers) constitute over three- 

 fourths. 



Beetles of all kinds amount to 17.02 per cent of the food, and include 5.47 

 per cent of useful species, mostly Carabidae and Cicindelidae. For a flycatcher 

 this is a large record of these useful beetles, as they are largely ground- 

 inhabiting species and not so often on the wing as most others. The remainder, 

 11.55 per cent, are either harmful or neutral. No special pests were found 

 among them. Hymenoptera (bees and wasps) are the largest item of animal 

 food and amount to 31.38 per cent. * * * 



Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets, etc.) stand next to Hymenoptera in the 

 diet of the Arkansas kingbird. * * * The total for the year is 27.76 per 

 cent. It is a singular fact that several western si)ecies of flycatchers eat more 

 grasshoppers than do the meadowlark and blackbirds, which obtain their food 

 almost wholly upon the ground. The reverse is the case with the corre- 

 sponding eastern birds. The orthopterous food consists almost entirely of grass- 

 hoppers with very few crickets. 



The remainder of the animal food consists of bugs, flies, "and a 

 few other miscellaneous insects, millepeds and spiders, the bones of 

 tree frogs in 3 stomachs, and egg shells, apparently those of domestic 

 fowl." He lists in the insect food 8 species of Hymenoptera, 24 of 

 Coleoptera, 1 of Diptera, and 7 of Hemiptera (bugs). 



Of the vegetable food, he says : "Although vegetable food amounts 

 to 9.39 per cent, it presents but little variety. A few weed seeds 

 occurred in one stomach. Seed and skins of elderberries (Sambucus) 

 were found in 11 stomachs, woodbine (Psedera) in 2, hawthorn berries 

 (Crataegus) in 1, an olive in 1, and skin and pulp of fruit not further 

 identified in 2." 



As to the destruction of bees, of which this kingbird has been ac- 

 cused, Beal writes elsewhere (1910) : "It is said that the birds linger 

 about the hives and snap up the bees as they return home laden with 

 honey. Remains of honey bees were searched for with special care, 

 and were found to constitute 5 per cent of the food. Thirty-one indi- 

 viduals were discovered in 5 stomachs. Of these, 29 were drones, or 

 males, and 2 were workers. In 3 stomachs containing males there 

 was no other food, and when it is borne in mind that there are 

 thousands of worker bees to one drone, it appears that the latter must 

 be carefully selected. As a rule, the destruction of drones is not an 

 injury to the colony, and often is a positive benefit." 



In the stomachs of California birds, he found that "miscellaneous 

 insects, consisting of caterpillars and moths, a few bugs, flies, and a 

 dragonfly, constituted 10 percent. Several stomachs contained a 

 number of moths, and one was entirely filled with them." 



Like other flycatchers, the Arkansas kingbird captures most of its 

 prey in the air, sallying out after flying insects, often from some low 

 perch, such as a fence post or wire, a low tree or bush, or even the 

 top of some tall weedstalk. Francis H. Allen saw one feeding 

 near the seashore in Massachusetts, of which he says (MS.) : "Its 



