No. 390. ] SECURING INSECTS FROM BIRDS. 47I 
majority of land birds. I have collected scores of birds in 
places where noctuid, crambid, pyralid, and geometrid moths 
were abundant, and not found a trace of a moth in any of the 
birds’ stomachs. These insects, whether protected by their 
harmonizing coloration or by some other adaptation, are more 
immune from the attacks of birds than grasshoppers. 
Weevils have a combination of protective devices ; they are 
very hard-shelled, and they resemble either little stones or clods 
of earth. Moreover, they drop to the ground and feign death. 
Authors have dilated at length upon these admirable protective 
devices of weevils. But it seems to me that here we find the 
working force of protective adaptations at about as low an ebb 
as anywhere, for not only are these insects not immune, but they 
are eaten in great numbers by all insectivorous birds whose 
food we know anything about. It is not uncommon to find in 
the stomachs of such granivorous birds as sparrows as many 
as a dozen weevils. 
32 Balaninus from downy woodpecker. 
40 Sitones from crow blackbird. 
109 Dorytomus mucidus from a hairy woodpecker. 
The question with these weevils, as with grasshoppers, is 
whether they are caught while they are still and protective 
coloration is acting. I think that any one who has observed 
English sparrows and blackbirds hunting weevils on lawns can 
certify that many weevils are picked up from the vegetation or 
ground. Of course with flycatchers the case is often different, 
and the insects are taken on the wing. Experiments with 
caged birds should be carried on on a large scale. I confess 
that I have only experimented with one kind of bird and one 
kind of weevil. I sunk Sztones hispidulus in sand of its own 
color, so that only the back of the insect was uncovered. I 
could not see it, but the insect was seen as readily by my song 
sparrow as if it had been flaming red, white, and blue. In 
the dozen times this experiment was repeated the bird flew 
instantly and seized and swallowed the weevil. 
I shot 45 birds on May 13 and 18, 1898, on a farm where I 
was only able to collect a single weevil. One-third of these 
_ birds had fed upon Sitones, Phytonomus, and Tanymecus. 
