THE BLUE JAY AND ITS FOOD. 201 
66.3 in August. The molting season may account for the inercase 
in August, but that in June is not so easily explained. The beetles 
found in the stomachs may be roughly divided into three groups: 
Predaceous beetles (Carabids); those belonging to the May beetle 
family (Scarabeids); and miscellaneous beetles, including about half 
a dozen families. Each of these groups forms a little more than 34 per 
cent of the food. The greatest number of predaceous beetles were 
eaten in July, when they aggregated 10.25 per cent of the food of the 
month. The Carabids belong for the most part to genera with blunt 
jaws, such as Harpalus, Cratacanthus, and Stenolophus; only a few 
specimens with sharp jaws like Pasimachus, Galerita, and Calosoma 
were found, and it is probable that no great harm is done by the 
destruction of these beetles, as they are not entirely carnivorous and 
are therefore less useful, and the individuals are abundant. 
Scarabeeids reach their maximum abundance in the jay’s food in 
August (11.8 per cent), although nearly as many (11 per cent) were 
eaten in June. They were mostly represented by the larger species, 
such as the goldsmith beetle (Cofalpa lanigera), the spotted grapevine 
beetle (Pelidnota punctata), the brilliant tumblebug (Phancus curni- 
fex), with many May beetles (Lachnosterna), and quite a large number 
of fruit-eating beetles (Huphoria inda and E. fulgida). At least 
five specimens of Huphoria inda were found in one stomach, amount- 
ing to 75 per cent of the whole food contents. It is worthy of notice 
that one stomach contained a nearly perfect specimen of the grape- 
vine beetle and also the seeds and skins of the wild grape (Its cor- 
difolia), and it seems probable that the bird visited the vine to feed 
upon the grapes, but finding the beetle swallowed that also. Beetles 
belonging to other families aggregate 16.3 per cent in June, the most 
important being a few leaf-eating beetles (Chrysomelide), some click 
beetles (Elaterids), and a number of curculios (Cureulionide). <A 
dozen curculios, belonging to the genus Balaninis, were found in a 
single stomach, and threc in another, As these beetles live on acorns 
and other nuts, it seems probable that the birds devoured them when 
looking for their. favorite food, mast. 
Grasshoppers, crickets, and locusts form about 4.4 per cent of the 
food; but they do not become an important element until J uly. They 
attain their maximum of 19.5 per cent in August, and continue in 
considerable numbers until December. If June can be called the 
beetle month in the dietary of the jay, August is the grasshopper 
month; and birds that eat these insects at all eat the greatest quan- 
tity at this time. Many birds that live during the rest of the year on 
food obtained from trees or shrubs come to the ground and feed upon 
grasshoppers in August. Caterpillars form an important element 
only in March, August, and September, and the greatest’ number, 
amounting to 11.4 per cent, were eaten in August. The kind of 
caterpillars eaten is of more interest than the number. The jay 
