ECONOMIC VALUE OF OUR BIRDS 73 



variety of insect food. It is known that this bird 

 consumes 145 different species of insects, and the 

 list includes all the notorious insect pests of the 

 farm and orchard save the few that live and work 

 high up, beyond the reach of a bird that lives on the 

 ground. However, the quail's repertoire includes 

 the codling-moth, the garden caterpillars, flies, mos- 

 quitoes, plant-lice, cotton-boll weevil and a host 

 of others. 



While it is impossible to take time to name many 

 of the insect species involved, we can offer a sum- 

 mary of the quail's insect food, as follows : 



Grasshoppers and locusts 13 species 



Bugs 24 species 



Leaf-hoppers and plant-lice 6 species 



Moths, caterpillars, cutworms, etc. . . .19 species 



Flies 8 species 



Beetles 61 species 



Ants, wasps and slugs 8 species 



Miscellaneous species 6 species 



Total 145 species 



It would be possible to go on at greater length, 

 piling fact upon fact, to demonstrate the value of 

 the quail to the farming and fruit-growing inter- 

 ests; but why burden the subject with unnecessary 

 proof? We are not now attempting to cover the 

 quail situation of the Pacific coast, which for vari- 

 ous reasons forms a chapter by itself, and needs to 

 be considered independently. Regarding the situa- 



