FOOD HABITS OF SOME WINTER BIRD VISITANTS 29 



creas© in weevils "to 17.58 per cent. No Hemiptera were taken, al- 

 though they formed a tenth of the food during the previous month. 



During March the white grubs formed an insignificant portion of 

 the diet (1.31 per cent) and the weevils dropped over half, to 7.38 

 per cent. In May the white grubs and their allies formed 5.38 per 

 cent of the food, owing to the taking of adults rather than larvae, 

 and they were not an important article in the diet for the remainder 

 of the year. The weevils also steadily decreased until during the 

 summer very few were eaten. In September, however, the pipits 

 were feeding on them again, and during the last four months of the _ 

 year the quantity taken fell below 10 per cent only in November, when 

 it amounted to 8.42 per cent, 



The percentage of caterpillars eaten also' fluctuates considerably, 

 May with 31.46 and September with 32.77 being the high months, 

 although they were taken freely all summer. Most of the Hymenop- 

 tera were taken during July and August, when 44.5 per cent and 

 33.18 per cent respectively were recorded. These figures are undoubt- 

 edly abnormally high, because a few of the birds from Colorado and 

 Wyoming fed almost entirely on these insects. Too few stomachs 

 were available during the summer months to give definite results, 

 although both Orthoptera and Diptera were eaten freely. The maxi- 

 mum occurred in April, when many crickets were eaten; and the 

 maximum for Diptera, in June, Avhen fly larvae of various kinds were 

 taken regularly. Three birds had eaten mites (Acarina) ; and one, 

 insects of the family Psocidae, forms not usually eaten by birds. 



Vegetable food. — In the vegetable food of the pipit, seeds of vari- 

 ous grasses formed 4.06 per cent of the total; various weed seeds, 

 8.04 per cent ; grain, all of which was taken in the winter months, 

 1.72 per cent; and vegetable debris, 1.51 per cent. No vegetable 

 food was taken during May, June, and July and very little in 

 April, August, and September. In January it was made up of the 

 seeds of various grasses (9.32 per cent), chiefly crabgrass (Synthe- 

 risma sanguinalis) , and seeds of several species of spurge 

 (Euphorbia), 8.38 per cent. Grain gleaned from the stubble fields 

 formed 3.54 per cent, and fragments of grass and other vegetable 

 debris constituted the remaining 1.33 per cent. In December 51 

 per cent of the food was vegetable, the highest point for the year. 

 From this month it falls rapidly away, reaching zero during the 

 summer. 



Conclusions.— From the foregoing it is evident that the pipit in- 

 jures no crops, the only count against it being its destruction ot a 

 few ground beetles and parasitic hymenopterans. The remainder 

 of its food is of a neutral or distinctly beneficial nature. It is 

 especially worthy of note that this species does its best work during 

 the winter months, when the consumption of insects by many other 

 birds is at its lowest. At this time the pipit maintains a steady 

 diet of white grubs and cotton-boll weevils, two of the worst pests 

 in the South. The bird can hardly be commended too highly and 

 deserves complete protection at all times. 





