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



larvae apiece. A single pupa was eaten by one bird, while many of 

 the adults were those of the new brood. Only a few stomachs are 

 especially noteworthy. The highest number of weevils taken by any 

 bird in this period was 52 larvae and 9 adults, eaten by a nestling. 

 Three other birds had taken 27 larvae, 26 larvae and 3 adults, and 20 

 larvae, respectively. 



Considerable interest is attached to the other animal food, which 

 amounted to nearly 42 per cent of the contents. Grasshoppers and 

 crickets occurred in more than half of the stomachs, amounting to 

 16.3 per cent, while injurious caterpillars totaled 19.64 per cent. 

 Weevils, other than Phytonomus, and spiders comprised 1.50 and 1.88 

 per cent, respectively, while Hymenoptera, mainly parasitic, made up 

 1 per cent. The vegetable food, 39.78 per cent, showed a slight in- 

 crease in the consumption of weed seeds, but by far the largest por- 

 tion, 36.64 per cent, was grain, some of which was that taken from 

 the newly headed crop. 



July 1 to 15. The 40 stomachs collected in this period show a 

 remarkable falling off in the amount of weevils eaten, Phytonomus 

 composing only 0.77 per cent of the contents. This may be largely 

 accounted for by local conditions. Most of the birds were secured at 

 a point where grasshoppers were appearing in large numbers and, 

 though alfalfa fields which had been badly infested earlier in the 

 season were near-by, but few weevils were found at this time. Most 

 of those eaten were adults of the new brood, but they averaged less 

 than one apiece for the birds collected, while the 40 birds together 

 had eaten but 13 larvae. 



The abundance of grasshoppers is readily indicated in the results 

 of the stomach analysis, which showed a percentage of 35.23, 

 or nearly three-fourths of the animal food. These insects were 

 present in 36 stomachs, and in several instances composed more than 

 90 per cent of the contents. Caterpillars were still frequently 

 taken, amounting to 8.82 per cent. Of the vegetable food, 52.03 per 

 cent of the contents, the greatest portion (51.63 per cent) was wheat. 

 In this case it was almost entirely composed of grain taken from 

 the growing crop. 



July 15 to July 31. By this time the second crop is well advanced 

 in most fields and serious damage by the weevil has ceased for the 

 season. Most of the weevils abroad are adults of the year's brood. 

 The 35 stomachs collected gave a weevil percentage of 9.2. This 

 increase over that of the first half of the month may be largely 

 attributed to more favorable local conditions, though there probably 

 were more adult weevils available. The birds had eaten an average 

 of 4.82 adults and 1.63 larvae each, and the insect occurred in 31 of 

 the stomachs, usually in limited numbers. Were a larger amount of 

 material available, a gradual decrease in this work as the month 



