58 - BIRDS IN THEIR RELATIONS TO MAN. 



harvest-spiders are predaceous creatures, feeding especially on 

 ' the aphides, or plant-lice, as well as upon dead insects. Most 

 of them move about at dusk, rather than during the day. Not- 

 withstanding the disagreeable odor given off by them when 

 handled, they are occasionally found in birds' stomachs. 



The common "thousand-legged worms" form a subclass 

 of animals known to naturalists as Myriapoda, — the many- 

 footed. They abound under logs and rubbish or amid the 

 fallen leaves of the forest, where they are often picked up by 

 robins or other thrushes. Some Myriapods, of which the 

 common lulus is an example, feed upon vegetable matter, 

 and are occasionally destructive to strawberries by eating the 

 pulp of the fruit. Others are predaceous ; but very little is 

 known precisely concerning the food habits of these ; conse- 

 quently their economic status is ill defined. From their gen- 

 eral habits we are led to think that their value may easily be 

 over-estimated and that we need not regret their occasional 

 destruction by birds. 



In addition to insects and their allies, birds feed upon many 

 higher animals. Fishes are taken habitually by kingfishers, 

 ospreys, the wading birds, and some of the owls. Frogs, 

 lizards, and snakes are eagerly devoured by hawks, owls, and 

 other raptorial birds, as well as by some of the waders and 

 various other species. The mice, moles, shrews, gophers, 

 ground-squirrels, and other small rodents also form a large 

 part of the food of the birds of prey as well as of many other 

 species, while the smaller birds themselves furnish consider- 

 able subsistence for their lamer relatives. 



