6 



in some of the stomachs and the large 'percentage of galls 

 which are sometimes drilled by these birds, one may infer that 

 they are eaten in considerable numbers. 



Ichneumon Flies {Ichneumonidce). — Though there are nine 

 separate records of these insects, the total number of in- 

 dividuals do not exceed eighteen specimens, of which curiously 

 enough ten were cocoons. 



Beetles (Coleoptera) . 



Wire Worms and the parent insects, the "Click Beetles''* or 

 <e Skipjacks" (Elateridae) . — The frequent occurrence of these 

 insects, more especially of the parent beetles, is very marked, 

 and goes a long way to prove that they form part of the regular 

 food supply of various kinds of birds. There are, altogether, 

 no less than 22 individual records, and, in some instances, 

 the number found in a single stomach was very large. 

 This w r as particularly noticeable in the case of the Meadow 

 Pipit (No. 179), the Jay (Nos. 319 and 327), the Jackdaw 

 (Nos. 351-352) and the Black-headed Gull (No. 816). 



Ground Beetles (Geodephaga). — These insects were found 

 in a large number of instances (between 40 and 50), though 

 never in very great numbers in a single stomach. They are 

 eaten by birds belonging to widely separated families ; but 

 their larvae were not found in the course of these investigations. 

 Broadly speaking, the whole group may be considered beneficial, 

 as they attack living insects and other forms of animal life ; 

 though a few species have been known to eat growing corn and 

 certain species of Pterostichus and Harpalus are claimed to 

 be destructive to ripe strawberries. All the members of this 

 division of the beetles have, however, been classed under 

 group 2, but it is quite obvious that a few of the records 

 would be more correctly placed with the injurious insects. 



Dung-feeding Beetles (Scarabaeidae). — These insects oc- 

 curred in a very large number of instances, and one gathers 

 that they are eaten by birds belonging to many different 

 families. They are of little or no economic importance, though 

 they may in some small measure assist in breaking up the dung 

 of the domesticated animals in fields and pastures. 



Weevils (Rhynchophora) . — From the frequency with which 

 these beetles were met with one may safely infer that they are 



