48 BULLETIN 107, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
other brood had eaten a total of 53 adults and 200 larvae, averaging 
lOf adults and 40 larvae for each bird. Four other young, about 2 
days' old, had devoured 4 adults and 195 larvae. 
A brood of three, 3 or 4 days old, had taken a total of 210 adults 
and 12 larvae from a badly infested field adjacent to the shed in 
which the nest was located. Another brood of the same number had 
eaten 190 and 15 ; a brood of two, 129 and 5 ; while three other young 
birds, 3 or 4 days old, had taken no larvae, but had consumed 183 
adult weevils. On May 27 the writer collected a brood of five young 
birds, 5 or 6 days old, whose stomachs contained a total of 308 adults 
and 151 larvae, an average of 61.6 and 30.3 per bird, and amounting 
to T0.4 per cent of the contents. 
Of the 530 stomachs collected for this period, there was one which 
contained over 100 larvae, 7 which had from 75 to 99, 29 with from 
50 to 74, and 90 with from 25 to 49. As to adult weevils, there were 
5 stomachs containing from 75 to 99, 21 with from 50* to 74, and 74 
with from 25 to 49. Many stomachs contained from 15 to 25 larvae, 
as well as adults, the total frequently exceeding 40 individuals. 
The food, other than weevils, next most important was Lepidoptera, 
comprising 18.36 per cent of the contents, and almost entirely made 
up of caterpillars. In 28 stomachs caterpillars composed three- 
fourths or more of the contents. Though at present these insects 
are not causing so much damage as the weevil, yet the good service 
of the birds in destroying them must be recognized. Ground beetles 
(Carabidae) made up 4.65 per cent of the stomach contents, the prin- 
cipal portion being of the genus Amara. Diptera, made up largely 
of Tipulidae (crane flies), comes next in order, with a percentage of 
3.9. Spiders, eaten principally during the first 2 or 3 days of the 
nestlings' life, composed 3.78 per cent, and scarabseid beetles, mainly 
of the genus Aphodius, represent 2.75 per cent. Hymenopterous in- 
sects made up 2.08 per cent of the contents. The remainder of the 
animal food, a little less than 3 per cent, was scattered among several 
groups of insects, of which carrion beetles (Silphidae), grasshoppers, 
and bugs (Hemiptera) were most important. 
The vegetable food, as usual, was composed almost entirely of 
wheat and oats. Much of this must be considered waste, though 
some complaints that sparrows steal chicken feed are verified by this 
examination. 
June 1 to June 15. — A percentage of 26.75 shows the extent to 
which the 382 young, examined in this period, were feeding on the 
weevil. A total of 4,907 adults and 5,336 larvae were eaten, an aver- 
age of 12.85 adults and 13.97 larvae for each bird. In 1911 of 22 
birds 3 had failed to feed on the insects, while in 1912 only 1 out of 
360 did not eat them, this being a ver}?- young bird in which spiders 
and caterpillars formed much of the stomach contents. 
