G58 REPORT UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



(juibryo state we must ]ay tlie blaine to ourselves if our farms arc rava<i;ed by Ibem. 

 Tbose batched beyond tbe borders of civilization are not likely to visit us otten nor 

 d.) us much injury. We must protect quails and jjrairie-chickens. All of tbe North- 

 western States must have statutory provisions against killiug them for ten years, at 

 least, and railroad companies must refuse, and by law must be prohibited, from carry- 

 ing them over their roads lor the same period. We must act and put in operation 

 tbe knowledge we possess, or permit ourselves to be overcome by our insect enemies. 

 It is for us to choose. 



In " The Chicago Field" for March 17, 1877, Dr. Elliott Coues, Uaited 

 States Army, is iDclioed to place the sharp-tailed grouse [Pedioecetes 

 columhianm) "if uot at the head, at least iu the very frout rank of all 

 the natural grasshopper-staying agencies. These birds yearly destroy 

 millions of grasshoppers, and at certain seasons eat very little elsef' As his 

 article is a brief one and much to the point I insert it nearly entire : 



I observe, in a late issue of tbe Chicago Field, that the question of the grasshopper- 

 preying disposition of the prairie-hen is re-opeued, though it is only through igno- 

 rance that any doubt on the subject can arise. Some three or four years ago I prepared 

 and caused to be somewhat extensively circulated in the Northwestern States a brief 

 reply to a question I found asked in one of the papers, " What will destroy grasshop- 

 pers?" stating iu brief, "Prairie-hens will," and giving some facts bearing on the case. 

 I never meant that these birds were a complete cure for the plague, but I endeav- 

 ored to show what incalculable numbers of the pests the chickens destroyed, and to set 

 their grasshopper-eating habits in the proper strong light. Probably few persons, 

 outside the ranks of practical ornithologists are aware how extensively the so-called 

 granivorous or seed-eating birds, such as sparrows, buntings, and finches, feed upon 

 insects at certain seasons ; and the same is true of the graminivorous birds, like grouse 

 and partridges of all kinds. As for the peculiar insects now in question, namely, the 

 grasshoppers, they furnish food to an immense array of quadrupeds aud birds which 

 inhabit the western prairies. The wolves, foxes, badgers, skunks, and various species 

 of spermophiles or "gophers," all eat them. Among birds, the cranes, ducks, hawks, 

 owls, grouse, and a great variety of email spanow-like birds eat them. To just what 

 extent these furred and feathered natural enemies make an impression upon the devas- 

 tating hosts, cannot, of course, be known, for they have always been at work; but 

 ■we may logically infer, from known facts, that the destruction is incessant, decided, 

 and important to the last degree. Since, also, we do not know bow delicately the con- 

 tending forces of nature may sometimes be balanced in the perpetual "struggle for 

 existence," it would be unsafe to assert that the diminution of the numbers of prairie- 

 grouse by the incessant persecution to which pleasure or profit subjects them, is one 

 of the principal causes of the late perilous swarming of the grasshoppers, but that 

 there does exist to some degree a causative connection between the two circumstances, 

 there can be, I think, no doubt. 



With the prairie-chicken proper, or pinnated grouse, Cupidonia cvpido of the books, 

 I have had very little experience. There is, however, in its general habits, tastes, and 

 proclivities, nothing materially diiferent from what is the case with the sharp-tailed 

 grouse, Pedioecetes columbianus, and this is a bird which I have had ample opportuni- 

 ties of studying for several years. I am inclined to place it, if not at the head, at least 

 in the very front rank of all the natural grasshopper-staying agencies. These birds 

 yearly destroy millions of grasshoppers, and at certain seasons eat very little else. Such a 

 seemingly extravagant statement is supported, nevertheless, by actual observation and 

 \^ personal experience. I lived in Dakota in 1874, during the grasshopper invasion of 

 that year, aud was among the sharp-tails continuously from June until October, kill- 

 ing a great many of them "out of season" for scientific purposes, and in season for 

 sport and food. Iu the latter part of summer, and in September, I invariably found 

 grasshoppers iu the crops of those I examined ; and almost invariably I found the craws 

 crammed with the insects, almost to the exclusion of other articles of diet. As I took 

 occasion to say in the " Birds of the Northwest," 'At this season their food appears to 

 be chiefly grasshoppers. I have opened numbers to find their crops crammed with 

 these insects, only varied with a few flowers, weed-tops, succulent leaves, and an 

 occasional beetle or spider.' 



I don't pretend to say that tiio business of staying the ravages of the grasshoppers 

 may be safely and confidently left to the grouse, or to any other natural agency— the 

 hoppers have waxed too many for that; but I do assert, without fear of reasonable 

 contradiction, that these birds are the natural means by which, in certain sections of 

 the country, the greatest numbers of the insects are destroyed. 



Among the many experiments which might be made with the hope of staying the 

 ravages of this plague, the absolute, unqualified, aud long-continued protection of the 

 grouse might be tried. Tbe denial of the sportmen's pleasures, and the stoppage of 



