■ 42 



of which l)uilt nests and reared their young near by. Recently, how- 

 ever, the .small willows among which these birds nested had been 

 removed, and the ])irds no longer pi'otected that particular field. 



At Haigler it was ascertained that various species of locusts have 

 been more than normally al)undant for the past six years. At least 

 this can l)e said of the species which attack cultivated plants like 

 alfalfa, corn, wheat, garden truck, etc. If any change in their num- 

 bers has occurred it is thought that perhaps there is a slight decrease 

 from 'last year. As in the vicinity of McCook and farther east, they 

 seem to breed chiefly in alfalfa fields, along roadsides, and in old 

 breakings. In addition to the breeding places here recorded, the 

 Russian thistles, which have become generally dispersed over this sec- 

 tion of the State, seem also to offer safe and desirable retreats for 

 several species of these insects when laying their eggs. Not only is 

 this true at egg-laying, l>ut also at other times. These rank-growing 

 plants provide shelter during hot, dry weather, as well as from lain 

 and hail storms, and offer safe retreats to the insects, even when pur- 

 sued by such enemies as predaceous insects and birds. 



Of the enemies to wild plants among these insects those which appear 

 to be most ))eyond the normal in numbers in this vicinity seem to 1)6 

 Opeia ol)8cura^ Mestohregma hunoa^ Melanoplus laMnu^^ 21. l>oirditchi, 

 M. paclcardi., Mermiria hkrUtata, M. neomexlcana^ and one or two 

 others. As noted at McCook, several of these latter are partial to cer- 

 tain food plants which have I'ecently increased enormously, which fact 

 probably explains their excessive numbers. On the other hand, spe- 

 cies like the Mermirias and other grass-infesting forms now abnor- 

 mally abundant have become so from some other cause. Perhaps the 

 nonoccurrence of prairie fires for a numl)er of years may account for 

 this, at least in part, while the destruction of such ])irds as the sharp- 

 tailed grouse and Bartramian sandpiper, with the meadow lark, and a 

 few other kinds of prairie-inhaliiting species, will explain the excess 

 in numbers of some of the remaining grasshoppers. Three species of 

 Decticina^ were also quite abundant here, as was also one of the walk- 

 ing sticks. 



In journeying westward from Haigler grasshopper injuries were 

 detected nearly as far as Akron, Colo., but beyond this point only 

 about the normal nuTubers of these insects appeared to be present, 

 since none of their injury was visible from the train. At Brush, where 

 a great deal of alfalfa is grown, not man}" of these insects were reported 

 or seen. Hence it was judged that matters here were nearly normal 

 as regards locust abundance. From this point the direction of the 

 journey was changed and we went north. At Sterling, which was 

 passed before daylight and where considerable injury was reported a 

 year ago, the condition was not ascertained, but judging from Avhat 

 was seen some distance bej^ond along the line of railroad toward Sid- 



