COMMON WHITE GRUBS. 13 
when the land is flooded with water. This characteristic also offers 
us a satisfactory means of controlling the grub of the green June 
beetle when in lawns or small areas. (See p. 20.) Again, this grub 
may be distinguished from the true white grubs by its general appear- 
ance, and especially by its peculiar and characteristic method of 
crawling on its back when placed on the surface of the ground. 
: NATURAL ENEMIES. 
The white grubs and May beetles are preyed upon by numerous 
birds, mammals; and insects, all of which are more or less useful in 
reducing their numbers. Probabl¥ the most important of these ene- 
mies are the birds, especially crows and crow blackbirds. Fields of 
Pre. 9.—Timothy field after harvest, showing sod overturned by crows in their search 
for white grubs, Galena, Ill., 1912. (Original.) 
timothy sod have been literally overturned by crows in their search 
for grubs (see fig. 9), and in some fields the grubs were almost 
exterminated by them. Crows have often been observed following 
the plow in infested fields, eagerly picking up every grub that was 
unearthed. Mr. Henry Holzinger, of Lancaster, Wis., said that 
crow blackbirds followed the plow in great numbers where he was 
turning over a sod field in the spring of 1912. In one instance he 
watched a single blackbird eat many grubs, apparently its full 
capacity, and then gather as many as it could hold in its beak and 
fly away. In this case the bird destroyed in all 20 grubs in about 
1 or 2 minutes. This habit of eating a large number of grubs 
and then flying away with its beak full was reported as a common 
occurrence with the blackbird. Mr. Fred Nelson, of Tabor, 8S. Dak., 
545 
