io Wyoming Birds. 



said that young nestling birds seem to be all mouth and 

 stomach. These facts become significant when you con- 

 sider that if human beings ate at the same rate, one man 

 would require about one hundred pounds of beef steak per 

 clay, and the high cost of living would become a problem, 

 sure enough. 



The United States Department of Agriculture employs a 

 number of reliable scientific men to investigate and report 

 on the food and habits of birds. These men are publishing 

 interesting figures to show the economic importance of this 

 group of animals. The following figures are taken largely 

 from these reports. 



SOME SPECIFIC EXAMPLES. 



i. "A Palm Warbler has been seen to capture from 40 

 to 60 insects per minute. It worked at this rate for four 

 hours and, therefore, must have gathered about nine thou- 

 sand five hundred insects in that time." 



2. A Northern Yellow-throat ate eighty-nine aphids in 

 a minute and worked at this rate for forty minutes. 



3. A Nashville Warbler ate forty-two Brown Tail Cat- 

 erpillars in thirty minutes. 



4. Prof. Beal of the U. S. Department of Agriculture 

 has reported that seventy entire grasshoppers and the jaws 

 of fifty-six more were taken from the stomach of a Frank- 

 lin's Gull. 



5. Dr. Judd is authority for the statement that seventeen 

 hundred weed seeds were taken from the stomach of a 

 Bob-white. 



6. The stomachs of Sparrows are always found full of 

 weed seeds and, being so numerous, they must be regarded 

 as important factors in checking weeds. 



7. Prof. Aughey states that, during the locust outbreak 

 in Nebraska, he saw a pair of Long-billed Marsh Wrens 



