148 ?HE FOOD OF BIRDS IN INDIA. 



Stomachs examined 



10-4-08. 1 Apia florea. 



2 (Ecophylla smaragdina. 

 1 Camponotus compressus. 

 5 Cremastogaster subnuda. 



4 Pupae of small moths. (?) found under bark). 

 13-5-07. 12 Tanymecus sp. 



3 Caterpillars. 



Other insect remains unidentifiable. 

 17_7_09. 2 Drasterius sp. (Pusa No. 2148.) 

 12 Small Elaterids. 

 1 Tanymecus sp. 

 1 Buprestid larva. 

 1 Large Geometrid larva. 



Summary. Of 45 insects taken by 3 birds, 1 is beneficial, 22 

 neutral, and 22 injurious. One bird took beneficial insects and 

 all had eaten injurious. 



983. Micropternus phceoceps. Northern Rufous Wood- 

 pecker. It feeds chiefly on ants that form nests in trees. F. I., 

 III. 56. The ants referred to are probably the common red ant 

 Oecophylla smaragdina. 



Stomachs examined 



18-3-08. 1,459 Cremastogaster subnuda. 

 8-2-09. 2,600 Cremastogaster subnuda. 

 12-4-09. 725 Crematogaster subnuda. 

 304 Phidole malinsi. 

 23 (Ecophylla smaragdina (pupae). 



4 (Ecophylla smaragdina (larvae). 

 9 Pieces of bark. 



Summary. 5,115 neutral insects taken by 3 birds. 



986. Brachypternus aurantius. Feeds much on ants. F. I., 

 Ill, 60. Not a few birds confine their attention to the creeping 

 things that inhabit the bark of trees, such as the Wryneck, the Tree- 

 creeper and the Wood-pecker, and of these the Wood-pecker is the 

 chiaf. It sometimes ventures on the ground from which it digs 

 out insects. Dewar B. P., 87. 



Common in Indian forests : feeds on grubs and pupae of the 

 ''sal" pest, Hoplocerambyx spinicorniK, in Eastern Bengal and 

 Assam. S. M. F. Z., 1908. 



