14 BULLETIN 107, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
percentage of various insect items. Numerous pupae of a muscid 
fly. as well as carrion beetles (SUpha rcrmosa). were found. Carrion 
occurred in four of the five stomachs and amounted to over a third 
of the food, while the remains of a freshly killed small rodent were 
found in the other. The stomachs of two birds contained fragments 
of hen's egg. 
Each of the six adult birds collected in June had fed on the weevil 
to the extent of 9.67 per cent of their food. One had eaten 2-i adults 
and 180 larvae. In one stomach were feathers of a small bird. 
Ground beetles, caterpillars, grasshoppers, carrion, and a small ro- 
dent composed the bulk of the remaining animal food. The vege- 
table element (20.5 per cent) was divided about equally between wild 
fruit and rubbish. 
Summary. — During early spring the adult magpie is valuable as a 
destroyer of weevils as they come out of hibernation. Complaints 
that it steals hen's eggs may be practically eliminated by the proper 
housing and screening of nesting fowls, but as long as hens are 
allowed to lay eggs promiscuously about the farm magpies will con- 
tinue to reap their toll. The destruction of wild birds and their eggs 
is doubtless the strongest argument against the species. In view of 
its obnoxious traits, legal protection for the bird is not recommended. 
LOXG-CRESTED JAY. 
(Cyanocitta steUeri diademata.) 
Deductions as to the relation of the long-crested jay to the weevil 
were based on the examination of a single stomach. This bird was 
from a densely wooded creek bottom which afforded direct egress 
from the shrubby vegetation of its favorite habitat to the midst of 
an agricultural community. 
Among the stomach contents were a single adult weevil, a dung 
beetle (Aphodius). a bee. a caterpillar, carrion, grain hulls, and a 
mass of dandelion seeds. 
The favorite habitat of wooded hillsides and canyon slopes and the 
natural food preferences of the long-crested jay apparently preclude 
it from becoming very destructive to the alfalfa weevil. 
WOODHOUSE'S JAY. 
(Aphclocoma woodhousei.) 
TToodhouse's jay is fairly common wherever dense scrubby vege- 
tation along a stream provides its favorite environment. Three 
stomachs were examined and adult weevils were found in each, aver- 
aging 1 per cent of the food. Ground beetles, mast, and wheat were 
