The Food of Birds. 129 



kegan. Tlie large percentage of insect food in May re- 

 minds us of the corresponding rise, in this month, of the 

 insect averages of the food of the robin and the cat])ird. 

 Seventy-nine per cent, of the food of these birds consisted 

 of insects proper, only one per cent, of spiders and three 

 per cent, of thousand-legs. Ants now amount to four per 

 cent., caterpillars to twelve per cent, (one-third of them 

 distinguishable as cutworms), and Coleoptera to precisely 

 one-half the food, one-tenth of it being Oarabid^i^. 



Scarabfieidfi? rise to thirty-five percent., chiefly June- 

 beetles of the genus Lachnosterna, wireworms to three 

 per cent, and Hemii^tera and grasshoppers likewise to three 

 per cent. The Hemiptera were all soldier-bugs. Among 

 the predaceous beetles Pterostichus, Anisodactylus and 

 Harpalus were recognized. A single specimen of Cyt'tlus 

 sericeus was the only representative of the family Byrrhidne 

 found in the food of any of these birds. Oorymbetes and 

 Monocrepldl}is aurltus were among the spring-beetles ta- 

 ken. In this month, as in the preceding, the snout-bee- 

 tles were chiefly Brevirostres. The Scarabaeidge included 

 Onthophagus hecate^ Ajyhodhis fimetarhis., inquinatus and 

 granarhis. and Euryomia inda. Seventeen per cent, of 

 the food of the month consisted of fragments of grain. 



J If n e . 



The birds of June, fifteen in numl)er, taken from the 1st 

 to the 29th, all from the northern part of the state but two, 

 had eaten about equall}^ of insects and vegetable substances. 

 Ants rise in this month to eleven per cent., caterpillars 

 fall to three, about one-third of these being cutworms. 

 Diptera fall to one, and Ooleoi)tera to twenty-seven i)er 

 cent., and Carabidae drop likewise to four percent. Scara- 

 baeid^Te return to seventeen, thirteen of these being leaf- 

 chafers ; wireworms fall to one, snout-beetles rise to four, 

 and plant-beetles are represented by a single Chrysomela 

 suturalis. Among the snout-])eetles occur Sphenoj^horus 

 parvulus and S. sculptiUs. Several specimens of Epicwrus 

 imhricatus were eaten by three birds. Phanmis carnifex^ 

 Onthophagus hecate and Aphodlus timetarius appear among 

 the Scarabit'idte. The commencement of the fruit season 



