66 . THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 



May beetle (Lachnosterna fusca) and another had added a small 

 rodent to its diet. 



While it is very common to find grasshoppers in the stomach 

 of the screech owl, one would hardly expect to find this insect 

 playing an important part in its mid-winter menu. 



The stomach of a broad-winged hawk, Buteo platypterus Viellot, 

 collected at Yukon, Oklahoma, in August, 1913, contained only 

 cicadas and grasshoppers. 



A parallel case is that of the stomach and crop contents of a 

 red-shou!dered hawk, Buteo lineatus lineatus Gemelin, collected in 

 the same locality in September, 1916 , which was composed of a 

 black cricket, one carabid beetle, and the remains of 288 short- 

 horned grasshoppers. 



The stomach of an adult female bobcat, Fclis (lynx) rufa 

 bailcyi, Elliott, caught in the Wichita Mountains, December 25, 

 1919, contained a double hand-full of small sticks. This animal 

 had attempted to cross a creek on a pile of drift when the drag to 

 which the trap was tied became entangled in the driftwood. This 

 bobcat chewed and. swallowed the quantity of sticks in the frenzy 

 of vain attempts to free herself. 



The stomachs of five skunks (Mephitis mesomelas Elliott) col- 

 lected in the Wichita Mountains, in December, 1919, contained 

 parasitic round worms. In addition to the parasites two stomachs 

 were well filled with large grasshoppers. The stomachs of the 

 other three skunks were empty of food ; two, however, had gnawed 

 off the foot and that part of the leg which projected through the 

 jaws of the steel trap and had swallowed shreds of the skin, hair, 

 and bits of the bone. One of these had also swallowed an appreci 

 able quantity of the coarse sand in which the trap had been set. 



These observations demonstrate that the public over-estimates 

 the damage done by our predatory birds and animals. It is there- 

 fore, evident that man underestimates the good that they do. This 

 is especially true relative to most of our predatory birds. 



The writer is indebted to Mr. R. C. Hughes for the identifica- 

 tion of the bobcat and skunks. 



AN OKLAHOMA METEORITE 



C. W. Shannon, 1920. 



A meteorite found near Knowles, Beaver County, Oklahoma is 

 in the Memorial Hall of the American Museum of Natural History, 



