14 BULLETIN 107, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



percentage of various insect items. Numerous pupse of a muscid 

 fly, as well as carrion beetles (Silpha ramosa) , were found. Carrion 

 occurred in four of the five stomachs and amounted to over a third 

 of the food, while the remains of a freshly killed small rodent were 

 found in the other. The stomachs of two birds contained fragments 

 of hen's egg. 



Each of the six adult birds collected in June had fed on the weevil 

 to the extent of 9.67 per cent of their food. One had eaten 24 adults 

 and 180 larvae. In one stomach were feathers of a small bird. 

 Ground beetles, caterpillars, grasshoppers, carrion, and a small ro- 

 dent composed the bulk of the remaining animal food. The vege- 

 table element (20.5 per cent) was divided about equally between wild 

 fruit and rubbish. 



Summary. During early spring the adult magpie is valuable as a 

 destroyer of weevils as they come out of hibernation. Complaints 

 that it steals hen's eggs may be practically eliminated by the proper 

 housing and screening of nesting fowls, but as long as hens are 

 allowed to lay eggs promiscuously about the farm magpies will con- 

 tinue to reap their toll. The destruction of wild birds and their eggs 

 is doubtless the strongest argument against the species. In view of 

 its obnoxious traits, legal protection for the bird is not recommended. 



LONG-CRESTED JAY. 



(Cyanocitta stelleri diademata.) 



Deductions as to the relation of the long-crested jay to the weevil 

 were based on the examination of a single stomach. This bird was 

 from a densely wooded creek bottom which afforded direct egress 

 from the shrubby vegetation of its favorite habitat to the midst of 

 an agricultural community. 



Among the stomach contents were a single adult weevil, a dung 

 beetle (Aphodius], a bee, a caterpillar, carrion, grain hulls, and a 

 mass of dandelion seeds. 



The favorite habitat of wooded hillsides and canyon slopes and the 

 natural food preferences of the long-crested jay apparently preclude 

 it from becoming very destructive to the alfalfa weevil. 



WOODHOUSE'S JAY. 



(Aphelocoma woodhousei.) 



Woodhouse's jay is fairly common wherever dense scrubby vege- 

 tation along a stream provides its favorite environment. Three 

 stomachs were examined and adult weevils were found in each, aver- 

 aging 1 per cent of the food. Ground beetles, mast, and wheat were 



