BIRDS IN" KELATION TO THE ALFALFA WEEVIL. 49 
Stomachs containing remarkably large numbers of these insects 
for so small a bird are to be found in this material One brood of 
five half-grown young consumed, respectively, 55 larvae and 1 adult; 
110 larvae and 2 adults ; 95 larvae and 3 adults ; 85 larvae and 4 adults ; 
and 123 larvae and 1 adult, an average of 93.6 larvae and 2.2 adults for 
each bird. A brood of three averaged 5f adults and 88 larvae apiece, 
one of these having eaten 170 larvae and 5 adults, the largest number 
recorded for a young of this species. Four young collected on 
June 1, 1912, were still busy with the breeding adults, which were 
abundant, 272 adults as well as 4 larvae being consumed, an average 
of 68 adults and 1 larva apiece. Another hatch of 4, about two- 
thirds grown, had taken a total of 54 larvae and 176 adults, one of 
these alone having eaten 42 larvae and 50 adults. Another brood of 
4 were making heavy inroads on the larvae, a total of 218 larvae and 
26 adults being their record. A single bird of another hatch had 
destroyed 150 larvae and 14 adults, while another made away with 
95 larvae and 8 adults. Numerous other cases occurred where indi- 
vidual nestlings had eaten upward of 50 weevils in one stage or 
another of development. 
Of the 382 birds examined 5 had eaten more than 100 larvae; 6 
had taken from 75 to 99; 17, from 50 to 74; and 49, from 25 to 49. 
The adults were not taken in quite so large numbers, two birds having 
eaten from 75 to 99 ; 9, from 50 to 74 ; and 46, from 25 to 49. 
The total animal food in this period was 60.81 per cent, of which 
35.06 was other than weevil. About one-third of this, or 11.3 per 
cent, consisted of Lepidoptera, principally caterpillars ; 7.15 per cent 
was ground beetles (Carabidae) ; 5.31 per cent Diptera, mainly Tipu- 
lidae; while the remainder, 11.3 per cent, was made up of various 
insects, of which dung beetles (Aphodius) , bugs (Hemiptera), grass- 
hoppers, spiders, and parasitic Hymenoptera were most important. 
The vegetable food (comprising 39.19 per cent of the contents) is 
again characterized by the predominance of wheat, with a little other 
grain and some weed seeds. 
June 16 to June 30. — Most of the first crop of alfalfa has been cut 
by this time, and in badly infested regions the fields are kept barren 
by the work of the larvae, which prey on every green shoot of the new 
crop as it makes its appearance. English sparrows still frequent the 
fields after food for their young, though the increased percentages of 
some of the other food items, especially grasshoppers, indicate that 
the weevil is becoming less abundant. Many insects have pupated, 
and in that stage are little eaten by birds. Thirty-six stomachs col- 
lected in this half of the month show a percentage of 18.25 of weevil 
food. All but three of these contained the insect. Examination 
revealed a noticeable decrease in the number of these insects taken 
by young birds at this time — an average of but 4.97 adults and 5.36 
