i9i5 ] Recent Literature*. 253 



In the case of the Robin the birds do no serious damage when their 

 normal food supply is abundant, but in sections of New Jersey where the 

 birds have been protected for years, they are constantly increasing, while 

 the native berry bearing shrubs have been largely supplanted by domestic 

 varieties. They are then very destructive to the berry crops and as Prof. 

 Beal says: " Under such circumstances there is no doubt that a law allow- 

 ing the fruit grower to protect his crop when attacked by birds would be 

 proper." The Robin is similarly destructive to the olive plantations of 

 California. 



The examination of the Bluebird's food " fully justifies the high esteem 

 in which the bird is held. It does not prey upon any product of husbandry 

 or in any way render itself injurious or annoying." During the berry 

 season of spring and early summer it feeds mainly upon insects, its fruit 

 eating period being from late fall to early spring when waste fruit is avail- 

 able. 



Prof. Cooke 1 describes the attempt to secure an estimate of the number 

 of breeding birds in various sections of the country during 1914. The plan 

 was the same as that outlined in the request for cooperation in a similar 

 effort during 1915 which appears in ' Notes and News ' of the present 

 issue of ' The Auk.' 



The 1914 census showed the Robin to be the most abundant species in 

 the Northeastern States, with the English Sparrow second, followed by the 

 Catbird, Brown Thrasher, House Wren, Kingbird and Bluebird. — W. S. 



Economic Ornithology in Recent Entomological Publications. — 



The most emphatic acknowledgement of the economic value of birds in 

 any recent entomological paper is that of Mr. J. A. Hyslop in a bulletin on 

 " Wireworms attacking cereal and forage crops," 2 who says, " Probably 

 the most important factor in keeping wireworms in check are the birds." 

 The significance of this statement is apparent from the authors estimate 

 that wireworms are among the 5 worst pests of Indian corn, and among 

 the 12 worst for wheat and oats. A list is given of 90 species of birds found 

 by the Biological Survey to feed upon wireworms. 



In a report on " The grasshopper problem and alfalfa culture," 3 Pro- 

 fessor F. M. Webster states that " upward of 100 species of birds are known 

 to feed to a greater or less extent upon grasshoppers, but probably the most 

 useful in this direction are quails, prairie chickens, the sparrow hawk and 

 Swainson hawk, the loggerhead shrike, all cuckoos, the cowbird, all black- 

 birds, and meadowlarks, the catbird, and the red-headed woodpecker." 



The results of some original investigations by Messrs. R. N. and T. Scott 

 Wilson of the bird enemies of the three cornered alfalfa hopper (Sticto- 



» Preliminary Census of Birds of the United States. By Wells W. Cooke. Bull. 

 U. S. Dept. Agr. No. 187, Feb. 11, 1915, pp. 1-11. 



» Bulletin 156, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Jan. 27, 1915, 34 pp. 



« Farmers' Bulletin 637, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Jan. 25, 1915, 10 pp. 



