FOOD OF SOME WELL-KNOWN BIKDS. 35 



Beetles of various families and species were eaten by the kinglet 

 to the extent of 13 per cent of the food. With the exception of a few 

 ladybirds all are of more or less harmful species. Of these the 

 weevils or snout beetles are the most interesting. One stomach con- 

 tained 20 individuals, which seem a large meal in view of the small 

 size of the bird. Many of the weevils belong to the family of en- 

 gravers (Scolytidse), which live under the bark of forest trees and 

 do much michief. Lepidoptera, both larvse (caterpillars) and adult 

 forms (moths and butterflies) constitute only a small part of the 

 kinglet's diet. While a few caterpillars are eaten, most of the lepi- 

 dopterous food consists of the minute cocoons of tineid moths, a 

 family of immense size, with wide distribution, and destructive 

 habits. They are largely leaf miners and do much damage to fruit 

 and forest trees. Lepidoptera aggregate only 3 per cent of the 

 food. 



Diptera (flies) constitute 16.93 per cent of the whole food, but 

 are very unevenly distributed. The greatest amounts Avere found 

 in stomachs taken in January and February. A number of stomachs 

 were nearly filled with these insects, which had probably been found 

 hibernating in some cranny. Two stomachs contained remains of 

 grasshoppers and these, with 2 per cent of spiders and pseudoscor- 

 pions, make up the remainder of the animal food. 



Vegetable food. — Fruit was found in the stomachs of kinglets to 

 the amount of less than 1 per cent and most of it was elderberries 

 (Samhucus). Weed seed also was found to the extent of less than 

 1 per cent. The great bulk of the vegetable food was the seeds ol 

 poison oak and leaf galls, which together amount to something more 

 than 4 per cent. 



Summary. — As the food of the kinglet consists so largely of in- 

 sects and these are mostly of noxious species, it follows that this bird, 

 small as it is, is an important factor in keeping the great flood of 

 insect life within proper limits. Its vegetable food contains no 

 useful elements and its small size, which precludes the possibility of 

 doing much harm to the products of industry, just fits it to cope 

 with those minute pests against which man often finds himself so 

 powerless. — F. E. L. B. 



506 



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