The Food of Birds. 153 



J u n e . 



In June, ten birds — one from Mt. Carroll, the others from 

 Normal — had taken a somewhat iiiuisnal diet. The ratio 

 of spiders (eighteen i3er cent.) falls little short of that for 

 May, but an examination of the notes shows that here, too, 

 a single bird had eaten nothing else. Ants rise suddenly 

 from two per cent, in ^lay, to twenty per cent in June, 

 taken by six of the birds. Most of these, however, were 

 of the winged forms, and tlieir number is evidently due to 

 the same cause which rendered the Aphodii so abundant 

 in April. Three of the birds of June proved, to my sur- 

 prise, to have eaten raspberries, and one gooseberries — 

 these fruits amounting to eight per cent, of the food of 

 the month. No cutworms were recognized in June, but 

 measuring-worms (Phahtnid<f) replaced them, composing 

 six per cent, of the food. While all the cutworms found 

 in any month whose food was at all distinguishable had 

 eaten nothing but grass — or endogenous foliage, more ac- 

 curately speaking — several of these IMiahifnida" had been 

 feeding on net- veined leaves. The Harpalina? (six i)er 

 cent.) include Evarthrus sj)., Pterostichus Incuhlandus 

 and Anisodactylus halthnorensis. June-beetles (Fhylloph- 

 aga) had been eaten by one bird, and aMelanotus, a curcu- 

 lio, and a long-horn beetle {Tetraopes tetraophthahnus)^ 

 each by one. Pentatomidc^ reach five per cent., chiefly 

 Hymenarcijs nervosa^ and Orthoptera fall to three per 

 cent. The excess of ants is therefore taken, like the ex- 

 cess of Aphodii, from the caterpiHars and grasshoppers. 



The averages of beneficial and injurious species stand 

 thirty per cent, to twenty-six per cent., respectively. Re- 

 garding ants, 1 find such conflict of opinion among good 

 authorities, that I am not able to give them a definite 

 place on either side of the line. The injury to fruits is 

 probably too insignificant to be taken into account, except 

 as evidence that the species is not strictly insectivorous, 

 even in midsummer. 



J a I y . 



The nine birds of this month were all shot in central 

 Illinois, during four successive years. Besides the return 

 of the percentages of Hymenoptera, Coleoptera, Lepidop. 



