No. 2O.] THE BIRDS OF CONNECTICUT. 337 



" But, although 28 per cent of the food contents of the 

 stomachs examined consisted of the seeds of berries and of fruit 

 skin, it is safe to say that barely a third of this percentage repre- 

 sents actual fruit destruction, and that the remaining two-thirds 

 of the seeds were eaten after the pulp of the fruit had been re^ 

 moved by other agents." ( Judd, " The Relation of Sparrows to 

 Agriculture.") 



In the stomach of a Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalm-us 

 erythrophthalmus) were found " a locust, a mining beetle, a 

 weevil, a ground beetle, a bug, a cricket, 6 ants, and the remains 

 of broken seeds " (Judd, " Birds of a Maryland Farm "). " Its 

 food consists of small seeds, grains, and fruits, as well as many 

 insects ; among the latter are included moths, beetles, ants, wasps 

 and ichneumon-flies, cockroaches, grasshoppers, walking-sticks 

 and their eggs, besides larvse of many kinds. The young are fed 

 upon insects similar to those eaten by the adults." (Weed and 

 Dearborn, " Birds in their Relation to Man.") 



Regarding the Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Zamelodia ludovi- 

 ciana) , Professor Beal says : " When the Colorado potato beetle 

 first swept over the land, and naturalists and farmers were 

 anxious to discover whether or not there were any enemies which 

 would prey upon the pest, the Grosbeak was almost the only 

 bird seen to eat the beetles. Further observation confirmed the 

 fact, and there can be no reasonable doubt that where the bird 

 is abundant it has contributed very much to the abatement of 

 the pest which has been noted during the last decade. But this 

 is not the only good which the bird does, for many other noxious 

 insects besides the potato beetle are also eaten. 



" The vegetable food of the Grosbeak consists of buds 

 and blossoms of forest trees, and seeds, but the only damage of 

 which it has been accused is the stealing of green peas. The 

 writer has observed it eating peas, and has examined the stomachs 

 of several that had been killed in the very act. The stomachs 

 contained a few peas and enough potato beetles, old and young, 

 as well as other harmful insects, to pay for all the peas the birds 

 would be likely to eat in a whole season. The garden where this 

 took place adjoined a small potato field which earlier in the season 

 had been so badly infested with the beetles that the vines were 

 completely riddled. The Grosbeaks visited the field every day, 

 22 



