foot) HABITS, 89 



crops. Only a few of the bobwhite stomachs examined contained 

 the useful sharp-jawed beetles, but many contained the blunt-jawed 

 species, especially such forms as Aniara sJD., A(/oiioderiifi jxilVtpes:, 

 Anisodactyliix balthnorenxis^ Aniaodactyliis /■ust/n/n, ILirpalitu peiiu- 

 i^ylvanicHS, and Harpalan califjuiosus: At Marshall Hall, in August; 

 1902, a covey of bobwhites was seen greedily eating beetles of the two 

 species of HurpuluH named above, which were numerous in. wheat 

 stubble overgrown by ragweed. The meadow lark, also, was feeding 

 oh thetn. The liking of the bobwhite for liavpaluii pomsylvaiiicuK 

 was further proved by experimerits with caged birds. It eats also 

 the larvae of these beetles, as do the robin and several other birds. 

 Though the genus Harpalus as a whole is useful, destruction of these 

 two species is not amiss, for they injure ripening sti-awberries by 

 eating out the seeds. Through their depredations on a quarter-acre 

 patch a grower at Leesburg, Va., in three nights lost $350 worth of 

 fruit. The nature of the injury by the beetle has so far made reme- 

 dial measures impracticable; therefore, the work of the bobwhite 

 and other birds should be estimated at its full value. 



Leaf-eating beetles, next in importance after ground beetles in the 

 diet of the bobwhite, include many of the worst beetle pests, and 

 members of the family not already actively injurious are potentially 

 so. These beetles also are provided with protective secretions, more 

 effectively rej)ellant in the larger species, at least, than those of 

 ground beetles, but luckily ineffectual against bobwhite. He eats 

 the most injurious of these insects, such as the potato beetle {Lepti- 

 notarsa decemi insata) , the striped cucumber beetle {Dijthroftca v'lt- 

 tata), the twelve-spotted cucumber beetle {Diabrotica 12 -punctata), 

 and the squash ladybird {Epilaelma horealis). The first named is 

 perhaps more correctly termed the Colorado potato beetle. It was 

 a native of the Rocky Mountains originally, feeding on the horse- 

 nettle {Soldinirii roKti'atitm) , a plant related to the potato. It began 

 to migrate eastward a year or two before the civil war. and fifteen 

 or sixteen years later reached the Atlantic coast. Since then, as 

 every one knows, this beetle has threatened the potato crop of the 

 country. Birds as a rule avoid it because of its secretions. There- 

 fore the bobwhite's services in destroying it should be highly valued, 

 the more so because the bird's habit of eating the potato bug is not 

 merely occasional nor limited to special localities. Records have 

 come to the Biological Survey from Xew Jersey, Virginia, Mary- 

 land, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, and Ontario ; and it is believed 

 that more extended observations will show that the habit is general 

 wherever the birds and the beetles inhabit the same district. During 

 the last week of June, at Marshall Hall, a pair of birds was observed 

 patroling rows of badly infested potato vines and diligently picking 

 off the beetles. Writing of the bird's relation to this insect, C. E. 



