56 THE NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [6:3-Mar., mo 



by the living feeding-test method. That is, she has offered 

 different foods to the birds and has counted or weighed the 

 amount eaten. The total food for a day forms a natural unit 

 in this work and a great many of these daily dietaries have been 

 studied; among them we may quote a few: 



1,350 flies, eaten in one day by a laying hen along with 

 weed seeds and green food. 



5,000 aphids, besides other food. 



1,286 rose slugs, July 2, (Test by Mazie Hodge, aged 8 

 years). 



37 grasshoppers and 2,400 seeds of pigeon grass, by a six- 

 weeks-old chick. 



65 large black crickets, October, no grain or seeds; half 

 of these crickets must have been females and packed with eggs. 



84 large and medium-sized grasshoppers, October, by a 

 seven-week-old chick; no seeds or grain. 



700 insects, 300 of them grasshoppers, by a laying hen in 

 July — about one ounce of insects. 



1,532 insects, 1,000 of them grasshoppers, weight nearly an 

 ounce, by a laying hen in July. 



48 grasshoppers (19 gm.) and 10 gm. seeds, by an adult in 

 Oct. ; together a little over an ounce. 



Interesting tests were also made to determine how many 

 weed seeds of a single kind a bird would eat in a day. They 

 were not given insects or grain, but were always allowed all 

 the green food, apple, chickweed, lettuce, cabbage, etc., they 

 needed in addition to the single seed offered. Some of the tests 

 were : 



Burdock, 600 Plantain, 12,500 Smartweed, 2,250 



Curled dock, 4,175 Pigweed, 12,000 Evening primrose, 10,000 



Dodder, 1,560 Beggar ticks, 1,400 Lamb's quarterP, 15,000 



Black mustard, 2,500 Rabbit's foot clover, 30,000 



