36 BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA AFFECTING FRUIT INDUSTRY. 
Of insects eaten by the shrike, the largest item is Orthoptera— 
that is, grasshoppers and crickets—which amount to nearly 48 percent 
of the whole food. They are eaten in every month of the year, and 
in August and September reach nearly 70 percent. These are the 
normal grasshopper months, the ones in which Eastern birds enjoy 
their annual grasshopper feast. Ordinary grasshoppers form the 
greater part of this item of food, but a good many crickets are eaten, 
especially the brown and striped so-called wood crickets. One group 
of these is particularly noticeable—a group of large soft-bodied mon- 
sters of the genus Stenopelmatus, many of which live under dead 
leaves, stones, and rubbish, and do not often voluntarily show them- 
selves by the light of day. It seems strange that the shrike, a lover 
of open and sunshine, manages to discover these creatures. They are 
sometimes called ‘ sand-crickets,’ and perhaps at times come out into 
the open, but the writer has never seen one except when dug from 
under rubbish. It is not known whether these insects are harmful or 
beneficial, so the shrike’s consumption of them has no economic inter- 
est. It is quite the contrary, however, with regard to grasshoppers, 
for they are harmful in all stages of existence, and the shrike. is 
directly beneficial to the farmer to the extent that it destroys them. 
Beetles collectively are second in importance in the shrike’s diet. 
They amount to 16 percent of the food, but of this about 7 percent 
are the useful ground beetles (Carabide) and carrion beetles (Sil- 
phide). The rest are mostly harmful. The presence of these last 
is a curious point in this connection. These insects are probably use- 
ful, and while no great number of them are consumed, it seems rather 
strange that they are eaten at all. The surroundings of these beetles 
are not pleasant, and they do not generally serve as food for birds 
except crows and other garbage hunters. Is it possible that the 
shrike finds them on the game which it has hung on twigs or thorns? 
They were noted in 8 of the 12+ stomachs, and three species were iden- 
tified. Most of the beetles eaten by the shrike are of the larger spe- 
cies, but it does not disdain small game, and quite a number of small 
leaf-beetles and weevils were among the others. 
Ants and wasps amount to something more than 11 percent in the 
diet of the shrike. Naturally they are mostly eaten in the warmer 
months, and the wasps far outnumber the ants. 
Moths and caterpillars are taken to the extent of somewhat more 
than 7 percent, and seem to be a regular though small component of 
the food. Unlike the wasps, the greater number of these were eaten 
in the colder months. One stomach was entirely filled with the re- 
mains of 15 moths, a most unusual occurrence, for adult Lepidoptera 
do not form a large clement of the food of any bird yet investigated. 
Bugs and flies are eaten occasionally. The stomachs taken in Feb- 
ruary contained a good percentage of Temiptera, and so did those 
