18 BULLETIN" 107, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
bird. The largest number taken by any of this species was 190 
larvae and 2 adults. Another record was 160 larvae and 2 adults. 
Three adults and 117 larvae were eaten by one bird, while five others 
had taken more than 170 individuals apiece. 
Of the other animal food Lepidoptera, in the form of caterpillars, 
is most important, amounting to nearly 31 per cent. These insects 
occurred in 15 of the 21 stomachs and in one constituted the entire 
food. Ground beetles (8,56 per cent), Hemiptera (1.95), weevils 
other than Phytonomus (1.21), and dragonflies (2.18) made up the 
bulk of the remainder. The vegetable food (1.2 per cent) was of no 
economic importance. 
Seven bircis^ collected in July show a decrease in the amount of 
weevils eaten and a corresponding increase in other food items, as 
grasshoppers, flies, and grain. Only two had eaten the insect, one 
having taken but a single adult, while the other had made away with 
18. Grain amounted to nearly half (44.57 per cent) of the food, 
verifying the complaint against these birds at this time of the year. 
Summary. — With the exception of the work of adult birds during 
the month of June, the yellow-headed blackbird can not be considered 
as among the more effective bird enemies of the weevil, but its uni- 
formly good work on caterpillars during the entire season argues in 
its favor. Its strong liking for dragonflies is against it, and also 
there is little doubt that it lays heavy toll on ripening and shocked 
grain. 
THICK-BILLED REDWING. 
(AgeJaius phcemceus fortis.) 
The thick-billed redwing is a common breeder throughout the Salt 
Lake Valley wherever is found a clump of cat-tails, a favorite nesting 
site. As small marshes flank the Jordan Kiver and the shores of Salt 
Lake, and are about other places where imperfect drainage has left 
a pool, the bird is fairly well scattered throughout the valley, and 
of the blackbirds ranks next in abundance to Brewer's. 
Those birds which do not winter in the Salt Lake Valley arrive 
early enough to render valuable service in the destruction of weevils 
emerging from hibernation. In the spring of 1912 the writer found 
them fairly common, and the examination of one stomach secured 
on the 1st of April indicated that they were already at work on the 
insects. 
Nestlings. — Thirty of fifty young redwings examined for June 
had eaten the insect, which amounted to 10.61 per cent of their food, 
and was taken on an average of 0.3 adult and 12.58 larvae per bird. 
In several instances, where nesting marshes were situated near in- 
fested fields, large numbers of larvae were eaten. A brood of three 
