11 



of a single Bob-white contained 101 potato-beetles; and that of another 

 upwards of 500 chinch-bugs. A yellow-billed cuckoo shot at six yi the 

 morning contained forty-three tent caterpillars. A robin had eaten 175 

 larvae of Bibio, which feed upon the roots of grasses, etc. 



Birds, like all other animals, feed upon that food which is most readily 

 obtained, hence the insectivorous kinds destroy those insects which are the 

 most numerous — the injurious species; and likewise the seed-eaters subsist 

 largely upon the seeds of our weeds. 



