a. H. Ford 111 



Starling, Thrush, and Blackbird seem to feed Elaterid larvae to their 

 nestlings as usual constituents of their diet. To quote one example — 

 that of the Starling (Collinge, loc. cit.) — the food taken to one nest 

 throughout an averaged period of half a day, required 146 visits and 

 included 13 wireworms (species not stated); this was in the middle of 

 May. It is probable that a large number of Elaterid larvae (as well 

 as other pests) are thus disposed of during the nestling season. With 

 regard to the food of adult birds more information is available, and it 

 is possible to give a rough list of birds that are of importance as 

 destroyers of Elaterid larvae, for "the frequent occurrence of these 

 insects, and especially of the parent beetle, is very marked and goes 

 a long way to prove that they form part of the regular food supply 

 of various species of birds" (13). 



The most useful in this respect are Plovers (or Lapwings), Gulls, 

 Rooks, Jackdaws and Starlings, all devouring both adult and larval 

 stages of Elateridae. In districts in proximity to the sea, Gulls are 

 very beneficial — they are usually present where land is being ploughed ; 

 and they follow the plough, in numbers, searching for insects that are 

 turned up. In one instance (Newstead, loc. cit.), forty-five Agriotes 

 larvae were found in the crop of a Black-headed Gull {Larus ridibundus). 

 Over the country generally, the Plover (or Lapwing) is one of the 

 most beneficial birds to the farmer — in spring, its habitation is 

 usually ploughed land. It undoubtedly destroys many injurious 

 insects. 



The Rook is not quite so wholly depraved as it is thought ; for though 

 it certainly takes a fair amount of seed corn, yet wireworms form about 

 9 per cent, of its food (Leigh(iO)), and the young are fed on Elaterid 

 larvae (Newstead, loc. cit.). Jackdaws and Starlings, both as nestlings 

 and adults, feed on both larvae and imagines of Elateridae. 



Curtis (6) states that the Sparrow preys on wireworms, but, up to 

 the present, there is apparently no evidence available that might 

 mitigate the uselessness of this ever-present pest. The author has 

 little definite information regarding the particular proportion of the 

 food of birds formed by the larva of Agriotes ohscurus. 



Wireworms appear to form a fairly constant constituent of the food 

 of the common Mole {Talpa europaea), in fact insect larvae and worms 

 form the greater portion of its diet. In an investigation on the food of 

 moles (19) it was found that out of 100 moles, 41 of the stomachs con- 

 tained wireworms. Though this investigation only extended over a 

 short period (from Dec. 5, 1913, to Feb. 5, 1914), it yet serves to indicate 



