No. 390. ] SECURING INSECTS FROM BIRDS. 469 
the more especially protected Locustide we have the leaf- 
resembling katydids eaten by a number of birds of prey, and 
there are three cases on record of crow blackbirds eating full- 
grown walking-sticks (Diapheromera). 
If we consider the number of grasshoppers (Melanopus) 
eaten by individual birds, it is interesting to note that the 
jaws and other remains of 48 grasshoppers were found in the 
digestive organs of one wood duck, 59 in a robin, and in a 
Swainson’s hawk 133. These figures come from Professor 
Aughey, who made a study of the effect of birds upon an 
invasion of Melanopus spretus. Of course these insects were 
at the time so much in excess of all other species that it is only 
natural that they should have been taken for food. The same 
line of argument is applicable in the eastern United States 
during August and September, when many birds are subsisting 
to a large extent upon the abundant supply of orthopterous 
food. However this may be, it is a fact that in June and July, 
when there is no such superabundance of Orthoptera, birds 
nevertheless select principally from this order of insects to 
secure food to rear their young upon. I have no data to offer 
which will show how often any given grasshopper is passed 
over by a bird, and thus protected by its coloration being in 
conformity with its surroundings. I know full well that if 
these insects were colored a flaming red they would be much 
more conspicuous to us, and probably to the birds. From the 
little field work that I have been able to do, it seems to. me 
probable that most grasshoppers are captured by birds not on 
the wing, but at rest or when moving very sluggishly. This 
summer, while collecting in a hayfield, I found it difficult to 
secure specimens of Melanopus femur-rubrum, which was very 
abundant. The insects arose at every step or so, but the 
instant they settled they became almost invisible. Protective 
coloration commenced to act as soon as they alighted. I 
watched an orchard oriole hunting in this field, but I failed to 
see any insects fly before her, though she at the time was 
feeding three young almost exclusively upon grasshoppers. 
From the little that I could see of a yellow-winged sparrow 
which was also feeding young, I was unable to see her flush 
