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



Investigation of the food habits of eight of these birds, four of 

 which were young, revealed that every one had fed on the weevil, 

 though in some instances it amounted to only 1 per cent of the food. 

 An adult taken in May had, besides one weevil and another beetle, 

 the pulp and skin of an unidentified fruit. Three adult grosbeaks 

 collected in June had subsisted on the weevil to the extent of 16, 1, 

 and 95 per cent of their food, respectively. The first of these had 

 eaten no less than 35 larvae and 7 adult weevils; the second, 3 adults; 

 and the third, 83 larvae and 8 adults. Along with these were found 

 remains of ground beetles, weevils other than Phytonomus, stinkbugs 

 (Pentatomida3), the small cicada (Platypedia) , the seeds of weeds, 

 and fruit of a hawthorn (Cratcegus). 



The four young grosbeaks were of the same brood, nestlings about 

 two-thirds fledged. Their nest was located in a creek bottom flanked 

 on one side by a badly infested alfalfa field. The consumption of 

 weevils by these birds was at an average of 3 per cent for the brood, 

 while 7 adults was the largest number taken by a single bird. 

 The presence in the immediate neighborhood of large numbers of the 

 small cicada, Platypedia putnami, may account for the relatively 

 small proportion of weevils taken. The former insect occurred in 

 each of the stomachs and averaged 88.5 per cent of the food. These 

 young birds had also eaten small quantities of ground beetles, clover- 

 root weevils, carrion beetles (Silpha) , and a click beetle. 



The number of stomachs available for this investigation is too lim- 

 ited to say how great is the work of the black-headed grosbeak as an 

 enemy of the weevil, but the fact that each of the eight birds exam- 

 ined had fed on the insect indicates that it is picked up whenever 

 found. Other investigations * have shown that with the exception of 

 occasional depredations upon small fruit there is nothing objection- 

 able in the food habits of this bird. When to its already favorable 

 record we add the destruction of even a limited number of the alfalfa 

 weevil, no doubt remains as to the economic, to say nothing of the 

 esthetic, worth of this bird to the people of Utah. 



LAZULI BUNTING. 



(Passerina amoena.) 



The lazuli bunting is frequently found about shrubbery along 

 streams and on a few occasions was seen 'visiting the alfalfa in 

 search of food. Only three stomachs were examined. One bird, 

 taken in a wooded ravine some distance from the nearest irrigated 

 fields, had failed to feed on the insect. The contents of its stomach 

 were entirely vegetable, consisting of at least 60 seeds of Montia. 



iMcAtee, W. L., Food Habits of the Grosbeaks. Bull. 32, Biol. Survey, U. S. Dept. 

 of Agr., 1908. 



