76 BULLETIN 326, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



tracted by working the body through the bill, while only the skin was dis- 

 carded. Their services in eating these and other caterpillars were recognized, 

 but at Caguas they were said to do some little damage by breaking the leaves 

 of tobacco plants, either with the bill or the wing, in flying down to pick off 

 the caterpillars. In Mayagiiez in June a few of these birds were catching in- 

 sects above the hot, paved streets, and perching on wires and housetops. 



Food. — Eighty-nine stomachs of the gray kingbird available for examination 

 were distributed through the 10 months from December to September, and re- 

 vealed animal food to the extent of 77.56 per cent. The vegetable matter, 22.44 

 per cent, was considerable for a bird of this family. Many of the insects taken 

 are large, conspicuous species and include weevils and other beetles, numbers of 

 Hymenoptera, and a miscellaneous assortment from other orders. The vege- 

 table matter eaten may be classed as wild fruits, all of them having a more 

 or less pulpy mass surrounding a seed. These are swallowed whole, and when 

 the soft exterior has been removed the hard seeds are regurgitated, no attempt 

 being made to grind them up unless naturally soft. No gravel or sand was 

 present in any of the stomachs examined. 



Animal food. — Though mole crickets are popularly supposed to figure largely 

 in the fare of the pitirre, they were discovered in only six stomachs and amount 

 to only 2.36 per cent, while other Orthoptera, a mantis, and a few grasshoppers 

 and locusts, come to 0.95 per cent. Earwigs (Forficulidse) (4.72 per cent) were 

 eaten eight times. Cicadas were found six times and make 1.97 per cent, while 

 stinkbugs (Pentatomidpe) in nine stomachs come to 2.12 per cent. These evil- 

 smelling insects seem to be eaten regularly, forming the largest bulk in Decem- 

 ber. Miscellaneous fragments of other bugs (Heteroptera) comprise 0.68 per 

 cent. In 32 stomachs were found remains of adults of the cane root-boring 

 weevil (Diaprepes spengleri) (17.19 per cent), and in destroying these weevils 

 the gray kingbird does as much good as if it fed on the same number of changas. 

 With the weevil stalk-borer (Metamasius hemipterus) (5.30 per cent) and mis- 

 cellaneous weevils (1.34 per cent), largely coffee leaf -weevils (Lachnopus sp.), 

 the bulk of injurious weevils taken is nearly one-fourth of the yearly food. 

 These weevils, though just beginning to be recognized by agriculturists, are 

 among the most important insects of the island from an economic standpoint 

 and in destroying them a great service is done. In addition to these one bird 

 had eaten a May beetle (Lachnosterna sp.) and other birds had taken bupres- 

 tids (Acmceodera sp.) and leaf beetles. The only beneficial beetle eaten was a 

 single ladybird (Cycloneda limbifer). Miscellaneous Ooleoptera amount to 

 1.3 per cent. 



Among the Hymenoptera, workers of the honeybee (Apis melliflca) (2.21 per 

 cent) were identified in five stomachs collected at random in January and Feb- 

 ruary. In 17 stomachs taken in June, largely at Lares about the apiary of 

 Sr. Linares, domesticated bees form 9.12 per cent. This is the only damaging 

 evidence against this bird, but it is greatly discounted by the good In other lines. 



Considerable complaint against the gray kingbird arises around apiaries, the 

 principal loss being said to occur during the nuptial flight of the queens, when 

 the latter, from their relatively slow and heavy flight, are readily captured. 

 The great swarms of these insects, passing back and forth to the hives, are an 

 attraction to these insect-feeding birds. They were observed flying in, circling 

 back and forth among the bees, and above the hives, and then alighting near by 

 in dead trees. Wild species of bees of no economic importance amount to 15.2S 

 per cent of the food. In making post-mortem stomach examinations of the birds 

 taken about apiaries it should be borne in mind that wild bees also are relished, 

 as these can not be distinguished from domestic species when discolored by 



