342 REPORT UNITED STATES ENTOMOLOGICAL COMMISSION. 



Yonrs at hand. « » # There was a patch of new breaking just west of 

 the Methodist church, where the grasshoppers hatched out very early, and where they 

 literally covered the ground. Many of our people went to see these grasshoppers, and 

 among others Mr. Miller, a new-comer. We noticed soon afterwards a flock of black- 

 birds alight on this piece of ground, and being curious to know whether they were de- 

 stroying any 'hoppers, we went to see, and found, to our surprise, that the ground was 

 almost entirely cleaned of them. — [Rev. J. F. Kuhlman, Ponca, Dixon County, Nebr., 

 Novembr 2, 1877. 



Dear Sir : I had one field of wheat on which the locusts were at work during the 

 last spring in such numbers that it looked as if nothing would be left. The blackbirds, 

 however, and also the plover, found it out, and came in such numbers that they cleaned 

 out every 'hopper, and I got a good field of wheat.— [Elias Brumer, Grand Island, Hall 

 County, Nebr., September 28, 1877. 



Dear Sir : In answer to your question about the birds and the locusts, I must say 

 this : Every farmer that shoots birds must be a fool. I had wheat this last spring on 

 new breaking. The grasshoppers came out apparently as thick as the wheat itself, 

 and,indeed, much thicker. 1 gave up that field for lost. Just then great numbers 

 of plover came, and flocks of blackbirds, and some quail, and commenced feeding on 

 this field. They cleaned out the locusts so well that I had at least three-fourths of a 

 crop, and I know that without the birds I would not have had any. I know other 

 farmers whose wheat was saved, in the same way. — [S. E. Goodmore, Fremont, Nebr., 

 October 5, 1877. 



Dear Sir : In answer to your inquiry as to what destroyed the most locusts here, I 

 have to say that I don't know as a general thing ; but several of my fields, where they 

 were thickest, they were destroyed by birds. The plovers, blackbirds, and a great 

 many o her kinds, whose names I did not know, came here and lived, or appeared to, off 

 of my fields. I shot one whose craw was full of locusts. At any rate, the locusts 

 gradually disappeared, and though I do not know positively, I have no doubt that 

 they were eaten by birds. I have no doubt if there were more birds there would be 

 less locusts. — [J. B. Kramer, Blair, Nebr., October 6, 1877. 



Dear Sir : I never noticed the work of birds very much until I read that story of 

 yours, last fall, in the papers, about the remedy against the increise of insects. I 

 thought that it was thin, but don't think so now. This last spring the blackbirds and 

 plovers, and other tirds, lit down in such flocks on my grasshoppered fields that they 

 cleaned out at least a part of them — enough for me to get good crops of wheat, barley, 

 and corn. I watched them and could see them eating locusts. I think you are right 

 in wanting all our birds protected.— [John Marian, Beatrice, Gage County, Nebr. 



Yours received and contents noted. People here generally believe that the locusts 

 died a natural death. On my farm, where the birds were thick and fed themselves on 

 locusts, my crops suflFered little damage, but where the birds did not feed I got but 

 little. I did not notice the work of the birds until this year, and I was led to do it by 

 your newspaper articles. I am sorry that I know the names of few of the birds that 

 fed on my farm, but there were several kinds of plover and snipe, blackbirds, yellow- 

 heads, quail, and prairie-chickens. — [William Hardle, Delaware, Otoe County, October 

 9, 1877. 



The following examples of birds found with insects in their stomachs and of actual 

 good work done by them, is confirmation, as far as it goes, of the theory that all birds 

 are more or less insectivorous. There are few species, if any, that will not under some 

 circumstances eat insects ; and the great body of them prefer insect to any other food. 

 This is true not only of the birds generally considered as insectivorous, but to some 

 extent of the granivorous birds. I have frequently obtained young prairie-chickens 

 that were shot in wheat stubble in August and found to my surprise that there were 

 more insects in their stomachs than wheat and other grains. The only exception to 

 this rule has been in the case of those shot on and around wheat-stacks and straw- 

 piles in winter, in which cases the most of the contents of the stomach were seeds and 

 grains. I had the same experience with quails. All that I captured in wheat-fields 

 after harvest had more or less insects in their stomachs ; generally more than half 

 the contents were insects, and the only exceptions were in the case of the few caught 

 around stacks of wheat or straw in winter. 



Few unobservant people have any comprehension of the vast number of insects that 

 birds actually destroy. During the breeding season this destruction of insects by birds 

 reaches its culmination. The young of some species will eat about 50, others about 

 CO, some about 55, and some about 75 insects each day. The average cannot be far 



