°'i9ii J Recent Literature. 137 



The contents of the stomachs of 6 Tinkling Grackles were analyzed by 

 him; they contained ticks as follows: No. 1, 25 Texas-fever ticks (Mar- 

 garopus annulatus australis) and 3 silver ticks {Amblyomma cajanense); 

 No. 2, 74 Texas fever ticks; No. 3, 13 Texas-fever ticks; No. 4, 32 Mar- 

 gar opus; No. 5, 3 Amblyomma and 2 Margaropus; and No. 6, 7 Margaropus. 

 The total number of ticks found in the 6 birds was 159. Newstead re- 

 marks that "as these were all females, it will be seen that had they been 

 left to mature, that they would have produced between them over 1,000,000 

 eggs, or a corresponding number of young grass lice, so that the value of 

 th;e Tinkling as a tick destroyer cannot be overestimated." 



On several occasions the Parrot-billed Blackbirds or Anis were seen to 

 take ticks (probably Amblyomma cajanense) from the heads of horses, and 

 one Texas-fever tick was found in each of two collected stomachs of this 

 species. 1 Domestic fowls also are said to feed on the cattle ticks to a 

 marked extent. 



Birds closely related to the Jamaican species above mentioned, namely 

 the Groove-billed Ani (Crolophaga sulcirostris) and the Red-winged Black- 

 bird (Agelaius phceniccus) are said - to prey upon Texas-fever ticks in 

 Mexico. In Costa Rica also, according to Cherrie, 2 the Groove-billed 

 Ani habitually feeds upon cattle-ticks. The habit is so marked in fact 

 that they are called garrapateros in all Spanish American countries. 

 Tick bird is in use in the West Indies and even the scientific name of the 

 genus has reference to their obvious taste for ticks. 



In the United States, Jackdaws (Megaquiscalus major macrourus) and 

 Kingbirds (Tyrannus tyrannus) are recorded 4 as enemies of Texas-fever 

 ticks. Mr. H. S. Barber informs me that he observed Red-eyed Cowbirds 

 (Tangavius mneus involucratus) , Boat-tailed Grackles and another species 

 of Blackbird habitually attending cattle near Brownsville, Texas, and 

 securing ticks by springing up from the ground and pulling them from the 

 bellies of the animals. Sometimes the birds failed to get the ticks, but 

 left their torn bodies attached to the skin. It was a matter of common 

 knowledge that these bloody remains offered a favorable and oft used 

 place for deposition of the eggs of the screw-worm fly (Chrysomyia maccl- 

 laria). It is very doubtful, however, that any considerable proportion 

 of screw-worm infestation takes place in this way. Eastern Cowbirds 

 {Molothrus ater) also are said by Bendire 6 to eat ticks. 



In the course of stomach examinations by the Biological Survey, the 



1 The contents of all the stomachs here noted, as well as those of one bird of 

 each species which had not eaten ticks, are very fully determined, and the economic 

 relations of the various items given. Brief notes on the food of four other species 

 of birds also are presented. They refer to Centurus radinlatus, Platypsaris niger, 

 Todus viridis and Tyrannus caudifascialus. 



'Moreau, P. L. Circ. Num. 66, Com. de Parasit. Agr. Mex., 1907, figs. 8-9. 



s Auk, IX. 1892, p. 325. 



* Hunter, W. D. and Hooker, W. A. Bull. 72, TJ. S. Bureau Ent., 1907, p. 37. 



s Life Histories of N. A. Birds, Part IT, 1895, p. 435. 



