16 



FOOD HABITS OF THE -GROSBEAKS. 



several garden and field crops. Measuring worms were eaten by 2 



cardinals, . the ze- 

 bra caterpillar 

 (fig. 10) of the 

 cabbage by 1, 

 while 2 secured 

 chrysalides of the 

 notorious codling 

 moth. It thus ap- 

 pears that the 

 lepidopterous food 

 of this grosbeak 

 contains a number 

 of serious pests, 

 and the bird ac- 

 complishes much 

 good by destroy- 

 ing them. 



A somewhat 

 larger number of 

 cardinals than ate 

 caterpillars preyed 

 upon grasshop- 

 pers, and these in- 

 sects form a corre- 

 spondingly larger 



Fig. 8.- 



-Bollworm or corn-ear worm (Hellothis obsoleta). 

 (Prom Quaintance, Bureau of Entomology.) 



proportion of the 

 food, namely 6.43 



percent. Crickets and long and short horned locusts were eaten and 



a decided taste for the eggs of katydids is 



shown, they being consumed by 21 red- filk 



birds. Among the short-horned grasshop- "*-" 



pers the small shield-back grouse locusts 



were taken, and also the lesser migratory 



locusts {Melanoplus atlanis, fig. 39), 



which during the invasions of the Rocky 



Mountain grasshopper was second only 



in importance to that formidable insect. 



The cardinal did its share in repelling 



the locust hosts in the seventies, Mr. 



Aughey, of Nebraska, finding more than 



20 locusts per bird during his examina- 

 tions. It is certain that the redbird's aid 



in restricting the less conspicuous pests 



of the present day is no less valuable. 

 Other insects bearing the name " locusts," but not at all closely 



a If 



Fig. 9. — Cotton cutworm (Prodenia 

 omitlwgalU). (From Chittenden, 

 Bureau of Entomology.) 



