62 BOB WHITE AND OTHER QUAILS OF UNITED STATES. 



June had consumed 44 of the latter beetles, which were leaf chafers, 

 ap])arently closely related to the genus Serica. The scaled quail 

 destroys also weevils, such as the clover weevil, Sitones, and certain 

 species of the family Otiorhynchidce, or scarred snout beetles. It 

 takes also leaf beetles, the very injurious twelve-spotted cucumber 

 beetle (Diabrotica W-punctata) . Further studies of the beetle food 

 undoubtedly will disclose a large number of pests. The bird will 

 probably be found to be a useful consumer also of grasshoppers, 

 since a third of its September food consisted of them. Their remains 

 were so fragmentary, however, that identification of species was un- 

 satisfactory. In one case a member of the genus Trimerotropis was 

 recognized. Ants had been eaten by 15 of the 47 birds examined. 

 The other miscellaneous insects included small bugs (Heteroptera) 

 and the chrysalis of a fly. One of the queerest objects found by the 

 writer in birds' stomachs is the 'ground pearl' [M argarodes) , sev- 

 eral hundred of which were contained in the stomach of a cotton top 

 shot at Roswell, N. Mex., June 17, 1899. They are lustrous and look 

 like pearls, but are merely scale insects that feed on the roots of 

 plants. 



Vegetable matter furnished 70 j^er cent of the food of the scaled 

 quail. Grain contributed 0.57 jjer cent; seeds, mostly weed seeds, 

 52.85 per cent; fruit, 12.65 per cent, and leaves and other green tissue, 

 4.33 per cent. The species resembles the ruffed grouse in its habit of 

 feeding on green leaves and tender shoots. It feeds upon budded 

 twigs, but more often limits its choice to chlorojjhyll-bearing tissue, 

 often picking green seed pods of various plants. Like domestic 

 fowls, it eats grass blades. Fruit was eaten by only 6 of the 47 birds, 

 and none was taken from cultivated varieties. As might be expected 

 from inhabitants of arid plains, these birds like the fruit of cacti, 

 and have been found feeding on the prickly pear {Opuntia lind- 

 heimeri). The fruit of Ihervillea lindheimeri also is eaten. The 

 blue berries of Adelia angustifolia, which furnish many desert birds 

 and mammals with food, are often eaten by the scaled quail. Differ- 

 ent kinds of Ruhus fruits are relished, and the berries of Koeberlinia 

 spinosa and J/omisia pallida also are eaten. The fruit and succulent 

 parts of plants no doubt serve in part in the parched desert as a sub- 

 stitute for water. 



Seeds of various plants form a little more than half of the food. 

 Legumes furnish 21.84 per cent, the mesquite {Prosopis juliflora) , a 

 staple with both man and beast, being utilized, as are the seeds of 

 mimosa {M. iiuncifera), besides various cassias and lupines. Seeds 

 of vetch (Vicia sp.) are a favorite food, and Morongia roemeriana is 

 eaten. The bird likes seeds of 3Iedicago, and at times will eat clover 

 seeds. Miscellaneous weed seeds yield 31.01 per cent of the annual 

 food. Nearly half of these are seeds of bindweed {Convolvulus sp.), 



