THE EARTH'S BOUNTY 



house ant, the red-legged grasshopper, the 

 Rocky Mountain locust, and the cinch bug. 

 Some of these pests are relished, for a dozen 

 army worms or cutworms are frequently eaten 

 at a meal. Thirty Rocky Mountain locusts 

 have been found in a single crop. Weevils 

 are greatly sought after, 47 cotton boll- weevils 

 having been eaten in a morning by one Bob- 

 white. Striped cucumber beetles are destroyed 

 by the score, potato beetles by the hundred, 

 and cinch bugs by the tablespoonful. 



From May to August, inclusive, beetles 

 form 17.9 per cent, of the food of the Bob- 

 white; bugs, 6.3 per cent.; caterpillars, 2.4 per 

 cent.; grasshoppers, 2.3 per cent.; miscellane- 

 ous insects, 0.8 per cent., and spiders and 

 other invertebrates, 1.9 per cent. 



The losses caused by some of these pests 

 show how desirable it is to protect a wild bird 

 that habitually destroys them. The Mexican 

 cotton boll-weevil damages the cotton crop to 

 the extent of $15,000,000 a year, the potato 

 beetle lops off $10,000,000 from the value of 



240 



