Recent Literature. Ill 



giving locality and date of capture, the number of locusts and of other in- 

 sects found in each, etc. 



The list numbers two hundred and fifty species, and hence includes a 

 pretty large proportion of the birds that visit the State, and as the list re- 

 lates ostensibly to only locust-eating species, our first feeling is one of sur- 

 prise that it should be so large, or that it should include many of the species 

 it enumerates. A closer examination, however, shows that they are there 

 with reason, and that the list of insect-eating, and particularly locust-eating, 

 species includes not only the so-called insectivorous birds, but Hawks and 

 Owls, Grouse, Plovers, Sandpipers, Herons, Ducks and Geese, Terns and 

 Gulls, and even Grebes. In former numbers of this Bulletin, and else- 

 where, attention has been repeatedly called to the grasshopper-eating habits 

 of the Red-headed Woodpecker, and various speculations were indulged in 

 by one writer respecting a change of habit supposed to have taken place 

 in several Woodpeckers anent their capturing insects on the wing. As 

 showing how little we know about the food of our birds, it may be noted 

 that Mr. Aughey records finding one half to two thirds of the contents of 

 the stomachs of various specimens of the Hairy, Downy, Yellow-bellied, 

 and Red-bellied Woodpeckers to consist of locusts. The Grouse, Plovers, 

 and Sandpipers are among the most efficient of the locust-destroying spe- 

 cies, although nearly all birds subsist largely upon these insects during the 

 season of their occurrence, and are believed to be of great importance in 

 checking their ravages. The Blackbirds, particularly Brewer's Blackbird, 

 are found to be of very great utility in this regard. 



Although Mr. Aughey's paper bears especially upon the subject of birds 

 as grasshopper destroyers, it forms at the same time a valuable faunal list 

 of the birds of Southern Nebraska, containing notes relating to the rela- 

 tive abundance and season of occurrence of most of the species. 



Mr. Aughey contributes to the same Report (pp. 338 - 350) a special 

 communication on the general subject of the usefulness of birds, with par- 

 ticular regard, however, to the locust question. After detailing instances 

 where the work of birds had a marked effect in keeping down the " hateful 

 locust," especially in the case of Grouse, Quail, Upland Plovers, etc., as 

 well as the smaller birds in general, he concludes that even the majority of 

 the Raptorial birds should be protected. He mentions among those that 

 should be destroyed the Snowy Owl, the Cooper's Hawk, Goshawk, Prairie 

 Falcon, Pigeon, and Sparrow Hawks. He also regards the Blue Jay as 

 " only a blackleg in fine clothes," whose depredations on the nests of other 

 birds render his existence incompatible with the increase of the smaller 

 birds. The Cowbird is regarded as an extremely obnoxious species, and 

 as meriting banishment and death. The House Sparrow also comes in 

 for nearly a page of condemnation. Mr. Aughey refers to the wholesale 

 destruction of Grouse and Quails as a serious injury to the welfare of the 

 agriculturist, which should be checked by severe legal means. He states 

 that in thirty counties of the State 300,000 Prairie Chickens and 150,000 



