BIRDS IN RELATION TO THE ALFALFA WEEVIL. 15 
other important components of the food, and in the stomach of one 
bird were fragments of eggshell. 
In view of the numerous objectionable habits of the closely related 
California jay it does not appear wise to recommend protection for 
this bird as a weevil destroyer. At the same time it is not numerous 
enough in agricultural districts of Utah to make any injurious 
habits which it may possess noticeable. 
BOBOLINK. 
(Dolichonyx oryzivorus.) 
The bobolink, songster of hayfields and low meadows, is fairly 
common in Utah. It was found in moderate abundance in the 
vicinity of West and South Jordan, and Farmington, and along the 
Weber River and Chalk Creek in Summit County. 
As a destroyer of the weevil it nas an interesting record. In the 
stomach of each of the nine birds examined the insect was present 
in considerable numbers. A single bird collected in May had fed on 
10 adult weevils, which formed 14 per cent of the food. 
Seven bobolinks collected in June had taken the weevil at an 
average of about 8 adults and 42 larvae per bird, to the extent of 68 
per cent of the stomach contents. In the stomach of one, 6 adults 
and 90 larvae formed the entire food. Another had eaten no less than 
28 adults and 77 larvae, amounting to 86 per cent of the stomach 
contents, while a third had eaten 3 adults and 61 larvae. The only 
other food items in the last stomach Were small fragments of a bug 
and a click beetle, estimated at 1 per cent. These birds also had 
fed to the extent of over 16 per cent of their food on caterpillars, 
which occurred in all but one of the stomachs. Bugs (Hemiptera) 
formed about half that amount. 
A single bobolink collected in August had eaten 7 adults, which 
totaled 15 per cent of its food, while several caterpillars and lepidop- 
terous pupae formed an additional 71 per cent. 
The bobolink does exceptionally good work as a weevil destroyer, 
for whenever it lives near infested alfalfa fields the insect forms its 
most important animal food. There appears to be no reason why it 
should not be fully protected. Its status in Utah is essentially the 
same as in the New England and other Northern States, where its 
economic merits have never been questioned. 
COWBIRD. 
(Molothrus ater ater.) 
Previous investigations 1 of the economic status of the cowbird 
have shown that, judged from its food habits alone, the farmer has 
1 Beal, P. E. L., Food of the Bobolink, Blackbirds, and Grackles. Bull. 13, Biol. 
Survey, U. S. Dept. of Agr., 1900. 
