472 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [VOL. XXXIII. 
One can hardly say in the face of these facts that the pro- 
tective adaptations of these weevils is highly efficient in secur- 
ing them from the attacks of birds. It seems as though birds 
became accustomed to discriminating between weevils and 
gravel stones, and, knowing how palatable weevils are, in spite 
of their hard covering, the birds seek them out, and even pass 
over apparently less protected insects. 
In passing to the Hemiptera one finds that the homopterous 
division affords very little food supply to birds. The Jassids,: 
as far as my experiments go, seem to be relished, but neverthe- 
less they are not in large quantities habitually eaten by birds, 
in spite of the fact that they are very abundant. Whether it is 
their protective resemblance or some other device which secures 
them this degree of immunity from attack, I cannot say. The 
Aphididz are still more protected. They are distasteful to cat- 
birds, and, I imagine, to many other species. 
Scale insects have been found only in the stomachs of 
several birds collected in winter, and in Baltimore orioles taken 
in summer. The true bugs (Heteroptera), which are protect- 
ively colored, are eaten by a great many birds. 
Ground-colored spiders, whether taken while at rest or when 
running, are fed to the young of practically all the land birds 
of the eastern United States. 
Hairs. 
I next come to the consideration of special devices, such as, 
for instance, a hairy covering of the integument as we have 
in many caterpillars. With the exception of our two species 
of cuckoos no species of bird in the eastern United States, so 
far as I am aware, makes a business of feeding upon hairy 
caterpillars. The loggerhead shrike occasionally preys upon 
these insects, but with practically all other birds it is only in 
exceptional cases that a hairy caterpillar is eaten. I remember 
seeing an old pear tree which was infested with Hyphantria 
cunea. These insects were not at all molested, in spite of the 
fact that the old tree was tenanted by three broods of birds at 
the time— kingbirds, orchard orioles, and English sparrows. 
