26 



28 BULLETIN 1249, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



„ Animal food. — Millipeds, crustaceans, and other miscellaneous 

 animal matter constituted 1.58 per cent of the food; spiders, G.03 

 per cent; and insects, 77.06 per cent. While neither all ground-bee- 

 tles (Carabidae), 3.76 per cent of the food, nor all wasps, bees, and 

 the like (Hymenoptera), 8.62 per cent, are beneficial, many of them 

 are predacious or parasitic, and therefore useful. It is not to be 

 oA T erlooked, however, that approximately half of the Hymenoptera in 

 the food of the pipit consisted of ants, the destruction of which is to 

 be commended. The remaining insect food, 64.68 per cent, was taken 

 for the most part from injurious groups, although a few water beetles 

 and neuropterous insects of more or less neutral economic significance 

 were included. 



Beetles were present in the food more than any other order of 

 insects, totaling 23.51 per cent and divided among the various groups 

 with the percentages indicated, as follows: Ground-beetles (Cara- 

 bidae), 3.76; leaf-beetles (Chrysomelidae), 2.78; leaf -chafers and 

 dung-beetles (Scarabaeidae), 3.14; weevils, 7.48; and other Cole- 

 optera and coleopterous larvae, 6.35. Lepidopterans were the next 

 largest item in the pipit's food, amounting to 15.41 per cent, the bulk 

 of which was caterpillars. About half the 8.62 per cent formed 

 by the Hymenoptera consisted of ants, and the remainder of small 

 parasitic forms. The true bugs (Hemiptera) formed 3.64 per cent 

 of the total food; grasshoppers and crickets (Orthoptera), 9.16 per 

 cent; and flies and their larvae (Diptera), 10.97 per cent. The re- 

 maining 5.75 per cent in the insect food consisted of various insects, 

 such as caddisflies, stoneflies, and other neuropterans. 



The study of the food of the pipit reveals the interesting fact that 

 the bird does its best work in the destruction of- injurious insects 

 during the winter months, when it feeds extensively on white grubs 

 (scarabaeid larvae) and weevils. A large part of the latter are cot- 

 ton-boll weevils (Anthonomus grandis) taken in December, January, 

 and February in Louisiana and Texas. Thirty-six pipits had eaten 

 these weevils, one having taken nine. As these- were hibernating 

 individuals the pipits were attacking the species at the time when 

 its numbers are at the lowest point. The elimination of individuals 

 at this period does far more good than the destruction of the same 

 number during- the summer. White grubs are also regularly eaten 

 while the pipits remain in the South, being found in each of 33 

 stomachs. 



In studying the food in detail, it is found that in 65 stomachs col- 

 lected in January, carabids formed 0.46 per cent; leaf -beetles (Chry- 

 somelidae), 2.08 per cent; white grubs (Scarabaeidae), 15.69 per 

 cent; weevils, almost entirely cotton-boll weevils, 12.58 per cent; 

 other beetles, 5.12 per cent; caterpillars, 5.2 per cent; ants and small 

 parasitic Hymenoptera, 2.8 per cent; true bugs (Hemiptera), almost 

 entirely the large nymphs of cicadas, which one would think entirely 

 too large for so small a bird to eat, 10 per cent; grasshoppers and 

 crickets, 11.84 per cent; flies, 1.55 per cent; other insects, 0.88 per 

 cent ; spiders, 5.8 per cent; and other animal matter, 3.43 per cent. 



The most marked changes in the diet occurring during February 

 are a decrease to 7.67 per cent in the white grubs eaten and an in- 



