72 THE FOOD OF BIRDS IN INDIA. 



12-6-08. 1 Brachytrypes achatinus. 



2 Opatrum sp. 

 2 Small larvae (cutworms). 

 12-6-08. 2 Brachytrypes achatinus. 



5 Broken caterpillars. Possibly more. 

 28-6-08. 2 Gryllotalpa africana. 



2 Nezara viridula. 

 2 Caterpillars. 



Other unidentifiable matter probably the remains of more 



caterpillars. 

 28-6-08. 1 Chrotogonus sp. 



2 Myllocerus maculosus. 

 1 Tenebrionid. 

 Caterpillar remains ? 



Summary. Of 22 insects in 4 birds, 19 are injurious and 3 

 neutral. None are beneficial. Four birds took injurious insects, 2 

 neutral and none beneficial. 



During July 1908 whenever flying termites were emerging, 

 King-crows were noticed to be very busy catching these insects, 

 and fed large quantities of them to the young. One evening I 

 watched two young birds being fed, apparently entirely on these 

 insects, and in half an hour counted 23 visits made by the parent 

 birds to their two young : the insects captured were almost certainly 

 entirely termites. This is the only occasion on which I have no- 

 ticed more than one insect brought at one time by this species to 

 its young. The old birds continually fed one bird and then went 

 to the other and fed it also without hawking between whiles. This 

 is in all probability due to the fact that flying termites are exceed- 

 ingly easy to capture. It is extremely unlikely that the termite is 

 broken up and part fed to one bird and part fed to the other. From 

 the stomach contents recorded above, it is, however, worth noticing 

 that soft insects are almost entirely fed, and in all probability when 

 the young are in the nest the food consists almost entirely of cater- 

 pillars and grubs. 



Total Summary. Of 257 insects taken by 31 birds, 37 are bene- 

 ficial, 177 injurious and 43 neutral. Injurious insects were taken by 

 29 birds, beneficial by 13 and neutral by 8. 



Conclusion. Beneficial. 



The King-crow is quite one of the most widely distributed birds 

 in India, is found at elevations over 5,000 feet and is one of the com- 



