12 CUCKOOS AND SHRIKES IN RELATION TO AGRICULTURE. 



which, it may be added, is one of the most disgusting in odor. This 

 was probably the most useful insect that the birds had eaten. Scara- 

 hceidw were somewhat more numerous than other beetles. The most 

 noticeable of these was the goldsmith beetle ( Co;^a?/;« lanigera), which 

 was found in 3 instances — 6 specimens in one stomach and 3 in each 

 of the others. Two stomachs contnined each 2 specimens of the 

 Colorado potato beetle {Doryphora 10-Uneata). Ulateridw, Buprestidcc, 

 Tenehrionidce, Cerambycidie, Lampyridcc, and a few Rliynchopliora, or 

 snout beetles, were also found. Among the latter was 1 specimen of 

 the rice weevil (Ca7a)if7ra oryzce). Altogether beetles constitute a little 

 more than 6 percent of the year's food. 



BUGS (HEMIPTERA). 



Hemiptera, or bugs, are represented by cicadas, pentatomids, and a 

 few others. The great bulk is made up of cicadas, or dog day harvest 

 flies, which seem to be a favorite article of food, as no less than 5 were 

 found in one stomach and 4 in another. Stink-bugs {Pentatomidw) 

 were found in quite a number of stomachs, but not in large quantities. 

 A few assassin bugs {RednvUdw) were also detected. No Hemiptera 

 were contained in the stomachs collected in January, but in the May 

 stomachs they amount to 1'2 percent, and do not vary much until 

 after August, when they begin to disappear. They amount to about 

 6^ I)ercent of the food of the year. 



CJRASSHOPPEUS (OUTHOPTERA). 



The Orthoptera eaten by the cuckoos consist of common grass- 

 hoppers, katydids, and tree crickets. The common grasshoppers are 

 evidently favorites, as is the case with so many other birds. Several 

 stomachs contained from 10 to 20 of these insects — a good meal for so 

 small a bird. Katydids and their eggs were found in many stomachs, 

 and often several individuals in a single stomach. The snowy tree 

 cricket {(Ecanthus nireus) is another insect that would seem naturally 

 to fall in their way, and which their stomachs prove that they often 

 eat. Orthoptera collectively were found in 80 of the loo stomachs 

 examined, and constitute about 30 percent of the year's food. Begin 

 ning with about 3 percent iu May, they increase to over 43 percent in 

 July, and do not fall much below this point during the remainder of 

 the year. 



CATERPILLARS. 



Nearly half of the yearly food (48.5 percent) consists of caterpillars, 

 which were found in IHO, or 83 percent, of the 155 stomachs examined. 

 The stomach taken in January contained 15 percent; in May the per- 

 centage rose to GO; in July and August it fell off a little to make room 

 for grasshoppers, and in September reaclu'd the maximum of 75. 



One of the most conspicuous and interesting of tlie.se larva' is the 



