ARKANSAS kingbird. 



21 



Diptera (flies) constitute 0.55 per cent of the diet. In June 3.21 

 per ceD -1 - were taken, but in no other month do they reach 1 per 

 cent, am. in March, September, October, and December none at all 

 were eaten. This bird is apparently not much of a "flycatcher." 

 Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies), including both adult moths and 

 caterpillars, amount to 7.31 per cent of the food. When eaten at all 

 they appear to constitute a fair percentage of the daily diet, but they 

 are entirely absent from the stomachs of March, September, and 

 October. A greater number of stomachs, however, might give a 

 somewhat different result. 



Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets, etc.) stand next to Hymenop- 

 tera in the diet of the Arkansas kingbird. March appears to be the 

 month of least consumption, as the 3 stomachs taken then showed 

 only 3.33 per cent while the 3 taken in December contained 44 per 

 cent. In all the other mftnths they constitute a good percentage 

 of the food, and, as seems natural, August is the month of maximum 

 consumption, with 61.58 per cent. The total for the year is 27.76 

 per cent. It is a singular fact that several western species of fly- 

 catchers eat more grasshoppers than do the meadowlark and black- 

 birds, which obtain their food almost wholly upon the ground. The 

 reverse is the case with the corresponding eastern birds. The 

 orthopterous food consists almost entirely of grasshoppers with very 

 few crickets. 



Dragon flies and a few other miscellaneous insects, millepeds 

 and spiders, the bones of tree frogs in 3 stomachs, and egg shells, 

 apparently those of a domestic fowl, make up the remainder of the 

 animal food, 1.23 per cent. 



Following is a list of the insects identified and the number of 

 stomachs in which each was found: 



HYMEN OPTERA (bees and wasps). 



Apis melli/era 5 



Melissodes ep 1 



Habropoda sp 1 



Andreria sp 1 



Prosopis affinis 1 



Cryptus sp 1 



Ophion bilineatus 1 



Ophion sp 1 



COLEOPTERA (beetles). 



Platynus sp 1 



Anisodactylus baltimorensis 1 



Anisodactylus semipunctatus 1 



Agabus sp 1 



Eydaticus stagnate. .' 1 



Silpha ramosa 1 



Staphylinus nigrellus 1 



Staphylinus luteipes 1 



Hister americanus 1 



Megapenthes turbulentus 1 



Canthon Isevis 1 



Onthophagus sp 2 



Aphodius fimetarius 2 



Aphodius sp 2 



Bolbocerasfarctus 



Geotrupes sp 



Amphicoma ursina 



Euphoria inda 



Euphoria sp 



Cremastochilus sp 



Leptura instabilis 



Epicauta sp 



Balaninus sp 



