^"'■m6^"T Recent Literature. 217 



on the beetle (Diabrotica soror). From Mr. Sell's account it appears that 

 natural enemies other than birds are negligible. 



A few birds that feed upon grasshoppers are mentioned in Harrison E. 

 Smith's report on 'The Grasshopper outbreak in New Mexico, during the 

 summer of 1913.' ' The irruption described was largely of one species, 

 the long-winged grasshopper {Dissosteira longipennis) . It extended over 

 about 500 square miles in which area grasses and crops were in great part 

 devastated. "Among the more important bird enemies noted to be feed- 

 ing upon grasshoppers during this invasion were the Desert Horned Lark 

 [Otocoris alpestris leucolcema), Western Meadowlark {Sturnella neglecla), 

 Desert Sparrow Hawk {Falco sparverius phalcena), Nighthawk (Chordeiles 

 virginianus) , Killdeer {Oxyechus vociferus), and Quail {Colinus virginianus) " 

 (pp. 6-7). 



A Woodpecker is given high credit as an enemy of a destructive pine 

 moth by Josef Brunner of the Bureau of Entomology." - It is said that: 

 "In most sections of the Rocky Mountains the Rocky Mountain Hairy 

 Woodpecker {Dryobates villosus monticola) is unquestionably the most 

 efficient natural force in restraining the Zimmerman pine moth. Thou- 

 sands of trees are each year regularly infested by the moth in comparatively 

 small areas, and this bird as regularly destroys almost all of the larvae in 

 all of them during early winter, so that, although hundreds of trees may be 

 examined at a time, it is only on rare occasions that larvae are found after 

 December in wounds in the trunks of trees which had been infested during 

 the previous summer. This woodpecker seems to have a decided prefer- 

 ence for the caterpillar of the pine moth wherever the writer and the 

 entomological rangers assigned to the Northern Rocky Mountain Field 

 Station have had opportunities for observation. In the extreme south- 

 eastern part of Montana, and particularly that portion covered by the 

 Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation and by the Custer National Forest, 

 the moth has apparently neither bird nor insect enemies. In all other 

 localities this woodpecker is fully able to eliminate this insect as a serious 

 factor m timber destruction. Especially will the work of the bird become 

 effective when the habits of the moth are more generally understood and its 

 "brood trees" are eliminated through use by man." 



In recent papers by W. W. Froggatt, Government Entomologist of New 

 South Wales, are some interesting notes on the food of birds. He dis- 

 cusses ' at some length the bird enemies of sheep-maggot flies {Calli- 

 phora spp.). The Crow {Corvus coronoides) is credited with destruction of 

 large numbers of the maggots. Other birds recorded among their enemies 

 are Magpies (Gymnorhina) and Soldier-birds and other Honey-eaters 

 {Meliphagidoe) . The writer adds a word of caution against indiscriminate 

 spread of the Starling. 



I Bull. No. 293, U. S. Dept. of Agr., 12 pp., 2 figs., Oct. 7, 1915. 



5 Bull. No. 295, U. S. Dept. of Agr., Oct. 28, 1915, p. 6. 



3 Farmers' Bull. No. 95, Dept. of Agr., N. S. Wales, March, 1915, pp. 39-11. 



