30 



BIRDS OF A MARYLAND FARM. 



the destructive beetles. One bird contained no fewer than 18. From 

 1896 to 1902, inclusive, the beetles did not again ruin the foliage, though 

 they were present every year, and at times in early summer were so 

 numerous that a scourge was feared. In 1896 the trees farther up the 

 river, however, were turned brown, showing that the escape of those 

 at Marshall Hall was not due to climatic conditions unfavorable to the 

 insects; therefore it is possible that the birds were, at least to some 

 extent, responsible for it. Fortj^-six birds from the following 21 

 species, taken during different years, had eaten the locust leaf -mining 

 beetle: 



List of birds vjhose stomachs contained locust leaf-mining leetles. 



Catbird. 



Chipping sparrow. 

 Field sparrow. 

 Song sparrow. 

 Towhee. 

 Cardinal. 

 English sparrow. 



Eed-eyed vireo. 

 Warbling vireo. 

 Yellow warbler. 

 Orchard oriole. 

 Baltimore oriole. 

 Scarlet tanager. 

 Kingbird. 



Great crested flycatcher. 

 Wood pewee. 

 Phcebe. 



Yellow-billed cuckoo. 

 Cedar bird. 

 Carolina wren. 

 Jiinco. 



Moreover, when most of these birds were collected, the beetles were 

 not numerous. All the common species, especially the arboreal feed- 

 ers, ate them eagerly whenever they were to be had. 



CERTAIN DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS. 



Flea-beetles. — Reference has already been made to the injur}" done 

 to melons by the flea-beetle (Systena elongata). Its congener, the pale- 

 striped flea-beetle {Systena hianda — tig. 7) is also 

 abundant on the farm and one or the other has been 

 found harmful to corn, melons, and beans. Else- 

 where they have attacked fruit trees and tomatoes. 

 Fortunateh% however, they appeared to form the 

 natural beetle food of several ground-feeding spe- 

 cies of birds and were sought for even when they 

 were very scarce. They were seen in the stomachs 

 of 28 birds, including the savanna, the grasshop- 

 per, the chipping, the song, the field, and the white- 

 throated sparrows, the crow, the crow blackbird, 

 the bobolink, the meadowlark, the house wren, and 

 the Maryland ^^ellow- throat. Systena hianda was 

 found on ragweed in a field of ripe standing 

 wheat, June 16, 1898. Eleven chipping sparrows that had been flying 

 into the field were shot. None had taken wheat and eight had fed on 

 the beetles, destroying in all 73. The smallest number found in a 

 single stomach was 5, the largest 11. 



Fig. 7.— Pale-striped flea- 

 beetle {Systena hianda) 

 (after Chittenden; 

 loaned by Division of 

 Entomology). 



