1164 REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



of unusual severity. By the end of the severe weather in April, it is 

 said, but few Eobins or Bluebirds could be found. The destruction of 

 bird life must have been enormous. The Bluebirds seem to have 

 been almost exterminated. Few, indeed, returned to their breeding 

 grounds in the north and from many localities none were reported 

 the spring of 1895. At Vincennes (Bicknell), Frankfort (A. B. Ghen), 

 and Rochester (Gould), Ind., and Oxford, Ohio (Prof. A. L. Tread- 

 well), none were observed. 



At the following places very few were seen: At Redkey, probably 

 six or seven (Roy Hathaway), none breeding; Greensburg, few (Prof. 

 W. P. Shannon); Upland, not more than a dozen (D. W. Collet); Han- 

 over, few (Prof. Glenn Culbertson); Greencastle, few (Jesse Earlle); 

 Sedan, very rare (Mrs. Hine); Lafayette, three (L. A. and C. D. Test); 

 Waterloo, very rare, (C. L. Hine); Orange, Martin and Dubois 

 counties, very scarce (E. M. Kindle); English Lake, one seen, very 

 scarce (R. Deane); Wilders, Ind., heard a pair in July, very scarce; 

 none seen about Chicago (J. 0. Dunn); Sandusky, Ohio, very scarce 

 (Prof. E. L. Moseley); Agricultural College, Mich., one heard, none 

 seen (Prof. T. L. Hankinson); Brant, Mich., very scarce (Dr. W. De- 

 Clarenze); Bay City, Mich., one, nearly extinct (Eddy); Grand Haven, 

 Mich., two (E. Davidson); Plymouth, Mich., few, one pair nested (R. 

 C. Alexander); Glen Ellyn, 111., three seen (B. T. Gault); Morgan Park, 

 111., twelve seen, four of them young (Elliott Blackwelder); Chicago, 

 111., not over twenty seen the entire year (C. H. Tallman). At Brook- 

 ville but a few were seen in the spring and none through the summer. 

 In the fall a number were noted. (See Proc. Ind. Acad. Sci., 1895 ? 

 pp. 162, 165.) There was an increase in number in 1896 and ajgain 

 in 1897. 



Indeed through October and November of the latter year they were 

 quite common at Brookville. 



The Bluebird is one of the most domestic of birds. It builds its 

 nest in holes in posts, rails, outbuildings, in holes in trees, very often 

 selecting the orchard as its site. It eats almost no fruits or seeds of 

 beneficial plants, and the only thing charged against it is the beneficial 

 insects it takes. Of 205 birds reported upon by Prof. F. E. L. Beal, 

 76 per cent, of their food was insects and allied forms. The other 24 

 per cent, was various vegetable substances, mostly eaten in winter. 

 Beetles constituted 28 per cent of the total food; grasshoppers, 22; 

 caterpillars, 11. All are more or less harmful, except a few predaceous 

 beetles, amounting to 8 per cent. The destruction of grasshoppers and 

 caterpillars is very large. The former constitute more than 60 per 



