456 McAtee, Contents of Bird Stomachs. [oct! 



system deprives himself of the possibiHty of referring accurately 

 to the contents of a very considerable proportion of the stomachs 

 of birds in general, and probably of a majority of those containing 

 vegetable food. In most cases it is impossible to accurately count 

 the number of individuals of much comminuted animal matter, 

 and practically every stomach containing animal food has a portion 

 of it in this condition. Who can reckon the number of earthworms 

 when only the spicules are left, or caterpillars by the spines, or 

 fishes or moths by their scales? Evidently figures cannot be ap- 

 plied to ground up oats, wheat, corn, and their young shoots, nor 

 to fruit pulp, nor to berries containing an indefinite number of 

 seeds. Who can tell from an inspection of the contents of the 

 stomach how many apples, peaches, or grapes a bird has bitten 

 into, or how many strawberries, blackberries or figs it has sampled? 

 Hence a very important feature of economic work, in fact the most 

 important from the standpoint of the farmer, cannot be expressed 

 by the numerical system. This fact alone proves the inadequacy 

 of the method. It is noticeable that Mason was unable to carry 

 out his intention as to counting all items, particularly in the case 

 of Ficus fruits, and of various buds and shoots. Neither can he 

 refrain from using expressions denoting bulk proportions of food.^ 

 King for the best of reasons takes no cognizance of vegetable 

 food in his tables, but has the audacity to condemn the percentage 

 system almost in the same breath. As an example of the way 

 King's methods work out, we may quote his account of the food 

 of the Blue Jay (l. c. p. 540). "Of 31 specimens examined, 19 had 

 eaten acorns; 15, 30 beetles, among them several species of Harpa- 

 lidae and a Cetonia; 2, 2 caterpillars; 2, 2 grubs; one, some other 

 larvse; 2, grasshoppers; 5, corn; one, wheat; and one berries. 

 No stomach was found to contain only insects ; and of those which 

 contained beetles, their remains never composed more than one- 

 fifth of the entire contents, and usually less than one-tenth." 

 Thus King could not count the individuals of 6 out of 9 items of 

 food in stomachs of Blue Jays, and must express himself in percent- 

 ages, in order to explain that the item — beetles — apparently 



• See particularly the accounts of Molpastes bengalensis, Oriolus kundoo, Ac- 

 ridotheres Iristis, Sturnopastor contra, Turtur suratensis T. riaorius, and Franco- 

 linus vulgaris. 



