ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE STARLING. 17 
late in winter. For example, one bird from Massachusetts in 
January had eaten 14 of these weevils and 4 others, which made a 
total of 26 per cent of its food. A Connecticut bird taken in the 
same month had also eaten 14 of these weevils, which formed 32 
per cent of the food. In these two months 14 of the birds had taken 
more than 5 Hypera at a single meal. (PI. III, fig. 1.) 
Another weevil eaten in considerable numbers is the lesser clover 
leaf weevil (Phytonomus migrirostris). Seventy-three of the 2,301 
adult birds had fed on this insect. The greatest number taken was 
9 by each of 2 birds. The clover root curculio (Sitona hispidula), 
the larvee of which feed on the roots of various species of clover, is 
also a favorite article of diet, having been taken by 505 adult star- 
lings. It was found most abundantly in the same months as the 
clover leaf weevil, as 27 of 84 birds taken in January, 119 of 398 
taken in February, 83 of 375 in July, and 86 of 347 in August had 
eaten it. The birds frequently took numbers of this species, 36 
having taken 5 or more. An August bird from Pennsylvania had 
eaten 30 adult clover root curculios, and one from New Jersey had 
taken 31. The closely related weevil Sitona flavescens, which has 
similar injurious habits, is preyed upon to a less extent, only 33 of the 
2,301 adults having eaten it. One of these, however, taken in 
Connecticut durmg August, had devoured 17 of the weevils, and 
several others had taken 2 or more. 
Fhe strawberry crown girdler (Otworhynchus ovatus), the larve of 
which feed on the roots of strawberries and other plants, had been 
eaten by 60 adult starlings, and the closely related weevil (Otrorhyn- 
chus sulcatus) known in Europe as the black-vine weevil, had been 
taken 7 times. Barypeithes pellucidus, another weevil known to 
attack strawberries and found in southern New England and adja- 
cent States, had been taken by a single bird, which had made 75 per 
cent of its meal on 167 individuals. 
In point of numbers taken, Sphenophorus, a group of destructive 
weevils known as billbugs, which bore into the seeds and stems of 
erain, stands next to the clover weevils, as at least 225 starlings 
had eaten them. Of these the ‘‘bluegrass billbug” (S. parvulus), 
which had been eaten by 104 birds, was most frequently taken. 
These insects sometimes do considerable damage to timothy. Five 
other species of this genus, all of them injurious, were taken in 
varying numbers by the birds. Phyzelos rigudus was found in 90 
stomachs, one of which contained 13 individuals. , 
As the starling stomachs examined often contained several species 
of these injurious weevils, a few of the more interesting ones are 
mentioned here. In a July stomach from Pennsylvania 20 Hypera 
punctata, 14 Sitona hispidula, and 2 Sphenophorus sp. formed 95 
182334°—21 ——3 
