DICKCISSEL. 91 



plant-feeding and predaceous habits. The lepidopterous element, 

 which is exceedingly small in comparison with that of manj^ other 

 species, is composed of smooth caterpillars of the families Geo- 

 metrid^e and Xoctuidae, except that one bird, contrary to the habits 

 of most species, had fed on a black caterpillar beset with, bristling 

 hairs. Moths are also preyed on, and from information obtained 

 through experiments (see p. 48), it is highh^ probable that, as seems 

 to be the case with the sharp-tailed sparrow and a number of others, 

 the smaller dull-colored species, popularh' known as millers, are 

 snapped up whenever an opi^ortunity oifers. 



The ColeoiDtera entering into the food comprise ground-beetles, 

 including some of the very beneficial sharp-jawed species, 1 percent; 

 leaf-beetles, mostly dark, obscure species, 1 percent; weevils (Rhyn- 

 chophora), large h' Sitones and species of similar habits, 3 percent; 

 little dung-beetles (Scarabseidse and Histeridge), 4 percent; and click- 

 beetles and small long- horned beetles, takon together, 3 percent. 



But it is as a destroyer of grasshoppers that the dickcissei excels. 

 If it ate twice the quantity of useful insects and grain and destroyed 

 no weed seed at all, it would still be a useful species because 

 of the enormous number of grasshoppers and crickets it consumes. 

 From June to August, inclusive, half of its diet consists of these 

 destructive insects. It feeds eagerl}' on short-horned grasshoppers 

 (Acrididie), long-horned grasshoppers (Locustid^), and crickets 

 (Gryllid^e). The stomachs examined contained more crickets and 

 long-liorned grasshoppers than those of any other bird whose food 

 habits have yet been investigated by this Department. The short- 

 horned grasshoppers eaten included such forms as are generally 

 found in t:tomachs of birds, the red-legged locust [^[elanoplus femur- 

 riibrum) and the Rocky Mountain locust {Jlelanoplus sjjretus) as 

 usual, being most common. During the invasion of the last-named 

 species, Professoi' Aughey examined some stomachs of the dickcissei, 

 and found in each the remains of these pests, one alone containing 

 twenty-seven.^ 



The large consumption of Orthoptera seems odd when one bears in 

 mind the statement of Wallace that "The whole order of Orthoptera, 

 grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, etc., are protected by their colors har- 

 monizing with that of the vegetation or the soil on which they live. 

 * * * AVe need not adduce any more examples to show how impor- 

 tant are the details of form and of coloring in animals, and that their 

 very existence may often depend uj^on their being by these means 

 concealed from their enemies." ' But that birds are sharp-eyed enough 

 to seek out a great many Orthoptera, is unmistakably shown by the 

 food of the dickcissei, the grasshopper sparrow, the lark sparrow, and 

 man}' other species. 



' First Ann. Report U. S. Entomological Commission, App. II, p. 32, 1878, 

 •' Natural Selection, p. 63, 1870. 



