6 OUR VANISHING SHOREBIRDS. 



Shorebirds are fond of other insect pests of forage and grain 

 crops, including the army worm, which is known to be eaten by the 

 killdeer and spotted sandpiper ; also cutworms, among whose enemies 

 are the avocet, woodcock, pectoral and Baird sandpipers, upland 

 plover, and killdeer. Two caterpillar enemies of cotton, the cotton 

 worm and the cotton cutworm, are eaten by the upland plover and 

 killdeer. The latter bird feeds also on caterpillars of the genus 

 PhlegethontiuS) which includes the tobacco and tomato worms. 



The principal farm crops have many destructive beetle enemies 

 also, and some of these are eagerly eaten by shorebirds. The boll 

 weevil and clover-leaf weevil are eaten by the upland plover and 

 killdeer, the rice weevil by the killdeer, the cowpea weevil by the 

 upland plover, and the clover-root curculio by the following species 

 of shorebirds : 



Northern plialarope (Lobipes lobatus). White-rumped sandpiper (Pisobiu fu*- 

 Pectoral sandpiper ( Pisobia maculata ) . cicoUin ) . 



Baird sandpiper (PisoMa balrdi). Upland plover (Bartramin lonyicauda). 



Killdeer (Oxycclius rociferus). 



The last two eat also other weevils which attack cotton, grapes, 

 and sugar beets. Bill-bugs, which often do considerable damage to 

 corn, seem to be favorite food of some of the shorebirds. They are 

 eaten by the Wilson phalarope, avocet, black-necked stilt, pectoral 

 sandpiper, killdeer, and upland plover. They are an important 

 element of the latter bird's diet, and no fewer than 8 species of them 

 have been found in its food. 



Wireworms and their adult forms, click beetles, are devoured by 

 the northern phalarope. woodcock, jacksnipe, pectoral sandpiper, 

 killdeer, and upland plover. The last three feed also on the southern 

 corn leaf -beetle and the last two upon the grapevine colaspis. Other 

 shorebirds that eat leaf-beetles are the Wilson phalarope and 

 dowitcher. 



Crayfishes, which are a pest in rice and corn fields in the South 

 and which injure levees, are favorite food of the black-necked stilt, 

 and several other shorebirds feed upon them, notably the jacksnipe. 

 robin snipe, spotted sandpiper, upland plover, and killdeer. 



Thus it is evident that shorebirds render important aid by de- 

 vouring the enemies of farm crops and in other ways, and their 

 services are appreciated by those who have observed the birds in the 

 field. Thus W. A. Clark, of Corpus Christi, Tex., reports that up- 

 land plovers are industrious in following the plow and in eating the 

 grubs that destroy garden stuff, corn, and cotton crops. H. 'W. 

 Tinkham, of Fall Eiver, Mass., says of the spotted sandpiper: " Three 

 pairs nested in a young orchard behind my house and adjacent to my 

 garden. I did not see them once go to the shore for food (shore 



