14 GAME, AQUATIC, AND RAPACIOUS BIRDS. 



because of their depredations it has been necessary to replant whole 

 fields of corn. They are said to drive chickens away from their food 

 and even to kill young poultry. Some landowners in Ontario County, 

 N. Y., claim that the loss suffered on account of pheasants has been 

 more than twice the amount of their taxes. 



On the other hand the birds have not proved a nuisance in Oregon 

 and Washington, where they have been numerous for years. Some 

 farmers even value them so highly that they will not permit hunting 

 on their property. 



The few pheasant stomachs examined indicate that these birds 

 are very fond of grain. Oats and wheat compose about 34 per cent 

 of the food of 12 ringneck pheasants collected in Oregon and Wash- 

 ington, and 82.5 per cent of the stomach contents of two English 

 pheasants from British Columbia. But all of these birds were taken 

 in September, October, and December; hence it is probable that all 

 of this grain was waste. The next largest item of food in these 

 stomachs was insects, consisting entirely of larvae of March flies 

 (Bibio). One stomach contained no fewer than 360 of these larvsB 

 and another 432. The remainder of the food included acorns, pine 

 seeds, browse, peas, rose hips, snowberries, and seeds of dandelion, 

 lupine, bur clover, black mustard, and chickweed. 



From 200 to 960 kernels of wheat and oats were taken by various 

 birds; about 200 peas were found in one stomach, but it was evident 

 that these were the old and partly decomposed refuse of the harvest. 

 Twenty- three acorns and 200 pine seeds were taken by the bird which 

 ate the largest amount of mast, and about 800 capsules of chickweed, 

 containing more than 8,000 seeds, were in the stomach of the best 

 weed-seed eater. 



What is most evident is that pheasants are gross feeders; their 

 capabilities for good or harm are great. If a number of them attack 

 a crop they are likely to make short work of it, or if they devote 

 themselves to weed seeds or insect pests they do a great deal of good. 

 It seems therefore that the question of the economic value of pheas- 

 ants is peculiarly a local one. Much depends on the proportion of land 

 under cultivation, the kind of crops raised, and the quantity of wild 

 food available. Apparently the chances are about even that imported 

 pheasants will or will not become useful economic factors. w. L. M. 



UPLAND PLOVER. 



(Bartramia longicauda.) 



The upland plover (fig. 5) forms a striking exception in habits to 

 its closest relatives, the sandpipers. While sandpipers love the 

 vicinity of water, the upland plover frequents dry hills and prairies 



497 



