1050 The American Naturalist. [December, 
first and fifth. Femoral pores fifteen and sixteen, in scales which are 
separated by intervening scales. Coloration above as in C. draconoides ; 
below a blue patch on each side which is crossed by three oblique 
black spots, the third generally followed by a fourth black spot, which 
does not reach the abdominal border. In front of the blue patch and 
posterior to the axilla a large rosy spot. A large rosy spot on the 
gular region. Size smaller, equal the C. draconoides draconvides. 
Numerous specimens from lower California from A. W. Anthony. As 
this species was accompanied by Uta parviseutata V. den B. and Cro- 
talus ruber Cope, the locality is not the Cape San Lucas country. It 
approaches nearer the C. draconoides than does the C. crinitus. The 
differences are, the digital fringes, the three or four black abdominal 
spots, and the rose spots on the sides and throat.—E. D. Cope. 
The Food of Birds.—A report upon the food habits of the catbird 
( Galeoscoptes carolinensis) the brown thrasher (Harporhyncus rufus) 
the mocking bird Mimus polyglottus) and the house wren (Troglodytes 
aédon) by S. D. Judd, contains the following information. The wren 
is exclusively insectivorus, and, therefore highly beneficial to agricul- 
ture. Among the pests destroyed by this bird are the snout beetles, of 
which the plum curculio is afamiliarexample. Stink bugs and cater- 
pillars, both of which are plant feeders, are also made way with in large 
numbers. The catbird and thrasher do much less good than the wren 
because of their mixed diet of animal and vegetable food, the propor- 
tion of the former in the thrasher being 63 per cent., that in the cat- 
bird 44, for theentire season. The number of mocking birds examined 
was only 15, so that their character, as friend or foe of the agricultur- 
ist, is still undetermined. The stomachs of those examined, however, 
indicate that thé bulk of their food is animal. 
Mr. Judd concludes his report by advising farmers to secure the 
services of the wren by putting up nesting boxes for them, and protect- 
ing them from the quarrelsome English sparrows. 
A second interesting paper on the food habits of birds records the 
results of the examination by Mr. F. E. L. Beal of the stomachs of 238 
meadow larks, and 113 Baltimore orioles. The meadow lark is a 
ground feeder and the great bulk of its food is grasshoppers, of which it 
consumes an enormous number. -The other insects eaten are ants, bugs, 
caterpillars and beetle larvæ. — > : 
The oriole feeds largely on caterpillars and wasps, eating so many of 
the former that it is a highly important beneficial factor in agricultural 
