BIRDS AND HORTICULTURE 



hoppers and May-beetles. The quantity of in- 

 sect pests they consume exceeds in volume more 

 than twice the corn they take. The first meal 

 consists of grasshoppers, plump spiders, or soft 

 cutworms. When two weeks old three-fourths 

 of the diet consists of equal parts of beetles and 

 flesh of vertebrates, fish, frogs, salamanders, tur- 

 tles, snakes, birds, mice, and rabbits. 



The Kingbird is one of the most beneficial 

 birds. He destroys the asparagus-beetle, rose- 

 beetle, flies injurious to stock, and insect pests 

 not usually destroyed by other birds ; kills honey- 

 bees, but invariably selects the drones, and saves 

 the young of game and poultry by driving away 

 the crows and hawks. 



The food of the nestlings of the Phoebe-Bird 

 is insects. Three-fourths of the food consists of 

 spiders, grasshoppers, caterpillars, and moths. 

 The adult feeds upon beetles and some grass- 

 hoppers. The food of the nestlings of the Wood 

 Phoebes is exclusively insectivorous — grasshop- 

 pers, flies, caterpillars and spiders. The nes- 

 tlings of the Ruby-Throated Humming-Bird are 

 fed largely on insects, and some sap and nectar 

 from plants and flowers. The adult feeds upon 

 gnats, ants, tiny bees, and parasitic wasps. The 

 food is regurgitated by the adult. 



Nestlings first feed on animal diet. This 

 diet gradually changes when necessary. Animal 



201 



