INSECT FOOD OF GRAY GROSBEAK. 31 
and in certain years has caused a decrease in the crop of a quarter of 
a million bales, valued at $25,000,000. Many birds devour great 
numbers of cotton worms, and this fact alone justifies the oft-repeated 
statement that “ too much can hardly be said in favor of insectivorous 
birds in cotton fields.” The gray grosbeak assumes a proper share in 
this valuable work, 14. of the 74 individuals examined having con- 
sumed cotton worms, which formed an average of 39.1 percent of 
their food. As many as 18 caterpillars were found in a single 
stomach. Another caterpillar enemy of 
the same crop, the cotton cutworm (Pro- 
denia ornithogalli, fig. 9), also is freely 
devoured. 
As beetles were less esteemed than cater- 
pillars by the gray grosbeak, so also are 
the latter less liked than the Orthoptera. 
This group contributes 11.52 percent of the 
total food. Both long and short-horned 
locusts and their eggs are devoured, 7 or $ 
grasshoppers sometimes being secured by a 
single bird. The only species (Syrbulu 
admirabilis) identified sometimes feeds on 
timothy. 
True bugs, comprising stink-bugs (Pen- 
tatomide) and their eggs, cicadas, leaf- 
hoppers (Jassidee), and lantern flies (Ful- 
goride) compose about 1.5 percent of the 
food. All of these insects are injurious 
and the bird does a service by feeding 5, 59 cotton worm (Ale 
upon them. bana  aryillacea). (From 
One parrot-bill was bold enough to Riley, Bureau of Entomol- 
swallow a large hornet (Vespa sp.). A a 
few ants also were eaten, and these, together with spiders and snails, 
complete the list of animals devoured. Although this grosbeak is not 
conspicuously insectivorous, almost all the insects it eats are injurious. 
MINERAL MATTER. 
While mineral matter was absent from the majority of the stomachs 
examined, enough was contained in the remainder to make an aver- 
age of 3.62 percent for the whole number. 
SUMMARY. 
The present incomplete data indicate that for a grosbeak the par- 
rot bill is decidedly vegetarian, preferring vegetable food even in 
months when insects abound. More than 69 percent of its food 
during August and September consists of weed seeds, the small 
18848—Bull. 32—08——3 
