374 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



records are taken from a list which she gives to show the 

 number of insects eaten by Bob-white in a day, each number 

 given representing the insects eaten by one individual in a 

 day: Chrysanthemum black flies, five thousand; flies, one 

 thousand three hundred and fifty; rose slugs, one thousand 

 two hundred and eighty-six; miscellaneous insects, seven 

 hundred (of which three hundred were grasshoppers); and 

 insects, one thousand, five hundred and thirty-two (of which 

 one thousand were grasshoppers). Mrs. Nice gives a list of 

 one hundred and forty-one species of insects eaten by the 

 Quail, nearly all of which are injurious, and Dr. C. F. Hodge 

 remarks that a bird which eats so many injurious insects is 

 welcome to the beneficial ones as well. We cannot assume that 

 birds at liberty, having their choice of food, would accept the 

 same diet offered these birds in captivity; but the above 

 experiments may indicate their taste in the matter. 



As a destroyer of weeds Bob-white shines pre-eminent. 

 Mrs. Nice gives a list of one hundred and twenty-nine weeds 

 the seeds of which are eaten by this little gleaner. These 

 seeds are digested, and the germs thus destroyed. The num- 

 ber of seeds taken by one bird at a single meal varies from 

 one hundred and five of stink weed or four hundred of pigweed 

 to five thousand of pigeon grass or ten thousand of lamb's- 

 quarters, while the number taken by one bird in a day varies 

 from six hundred of burdock to thirty thousand of rabbit- 

 foot clover. By a careful computation Dr. Sylvester Judd of 

 the Biological Survey reached the conclusion that the Bob- 

 whites of Virginia consume annually, from September 1 to 

 April 30, five hundred and seventy-three tons of weed seeds. 



If we take as our measure the c^uantity of weed seeds and 

 insects eaten by captive Quail, as given by Mrs. Nice, we find 

 that a family consisting of two adult birds and ten young 

 would consume seven hundred and eighty thousand nine 

 hundred and fifteen insects and fifty-nine million seven 

 hundred and seven thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight 

 weed seeds in a year, in addition to their other food. The 

 annual loss due to insects in the United States is believed to 

 reach nearly one billion dollars, and the annual injury to farm 



