94 THE DELATION OF SPAEEOWS TO AGEICULTUEE. 



destroying grasshoppers, principally in feeding nestlings, nearly half 

 of the food of Avhich, as shown, was found to consist of grasshoppers of 

 the genus Melanopliis. Other Orthoptera are eaten to a slight extent. 

 It is a common sight along roads to see the birds pursuing and cap- 

 turing the large dust-colored grasshopper {Dissosteira Carolina) which 

 shows j^ellow underwings when it flies. Long-liorned grasshoppers 

 {Locustidce), small grasshoppers of the genus Tettix, and, in one 

 instance at least, the mole cricket {Qrylloialpa) were included in the 

 orthopterous food found in their stomachs. The species of Lepidop- 

 tera preyed on are important pests. Whenever there is an uprising 

 of army worms, the English sparrows feast on the abundant supply. 

 The}^ have been observed catching the moth also of the army worm. 

 During spring and earlj^ summer, they remove many cutworms from 

 lawns and, to a certain extent, feed on hairless caterpillars of shade 

 trees. Occasionally thej^ destro}^ a few hairy caterpillars: they eat 

 the fall web worms and tussock-moth caterpillars, and sometimes feed 

 on the moths and ^gg clusters of the latter species ; they are included 

 bj^ Forbush among the birds seen to feed on the gipsy moth,^ and they 

 have been observed by Weed prejang on the moths of the forest-tent 

 caterpillar.^ But that they do not habituall}^ eat hairy caterpillars 

 and should not be expected to act as a potent check upon such 

 insects is evidenced hj the fact that only 2 of nearlj^ 700 stomachs 

 exaiained contained hairy caterpillars. 



The English sparrow feeds less on useful predaceous beetles than 

 any other insect-eating bird investigated b}^ the Department. Only 

 three of the stomachs examined contained insects of this class. In 

 one case a ground-beetle, and in the other two cases tiger-beetles were 

 eaten. No dragon-flies were found in the stomachs examined, but an 

 hour's field observation near the Department brought to light the fact 

 that these useful insects, the natural enemies of mosquitoes, are 

 relished by English sparrows. All about a pond at the base of the 

 Washington Monument on the morning of May 21, 1898, the nymphs 

 of a large species of dragon-flj^ {Libellula pulchella)^ which had 

 emerged from the water and crawled up the stalks of yellow iris and 

 other vegetation at the water's edge, were splitting open and the soft 

 adults were tumbling out. The English sparrows, taking advantage 

 of the helpless condition of these newly transformed insects, seized 

 them and flew to the pavement above the pond, and, after some pre- 

 lim inar}^ pecking, ate them, or carried them to their young. Along 

 200 feet of this pavement were 100 dragon-fl}^ wings. Of the use- 

 ful H3^menoptera, the English sparrow destroys few braconids or 

 ichneumonids, but consumes a comparatively^ large number of scoliids 

 {Typhia and Myzine). It has not been known to molest the common 

 honej^ bee, but on the contrary if offered these insects in captivity, it 

 invariabl}^ refuses them. It has nevertheless been observed feeding 



' The Gipsy Moth, p. 208, 1896. 



2 Bull. No. 75, N. H. Coll. Agr. Expt. Sta. , 1900. 



