142 



BIRDS IN THEIR RELATIONS TO MAN. 



general, the birds of this species seeking the potalo-field more 

 and more each season. I observed one small field near my 

 house that was much infested with the beetles, but the birds 

 found it, and in a few weeks I searched the field and could 

 not discover a single beetle young or old.' 1 Of eight stomachs 





H 



^$Tv< 



THE ROSE-BREASTED UKOSGEAK 

 {After Biological Uurvey.) 



of this species examined by King, six contained small seeds, 

 two seven beetles, and one berries, while specimens ex- 

 amined by Forbes had eaten canker-worms, army-worms, and 

 other caterpillars, wood-boring, leaf-chafmg, and snout-beetles, 

 as well as Hymenoptera and weed seeds. Two Nebraska 

 specimens examined by Aughey had about a dozen locusts in 

 each stomach. 



As a result of the examination of some four thousand 

 stomachs of sparrows of many sorts, collected all over the 

 United States, Dr. S. D. Judd concludes that " during the 

 colder half of the year the food of these birds consists almost 

 entirely of the seeds of weeds." 1 And he records this intensive 

 study of the effect of their work : " On a farm in Maryland, 

 just outside the District of Columbia, tree-sparrows, fox- 



