BIRDS IN RELATION TO THE ALFALFA WEEVIL. 7 
carrion beetles (Silphidse and Staphylinidse), click beetles, dung 
beetles (Aphodius), and weevils other than Pliytonomus were fre- 
quent constituents of the remaining animal food. The vegetable 
portion was either weed seeds or rubbish. 
Three of five killdeers obtained in Ma}^ had fed on the weevil to the 
extent of over 36 per cent of the food. In one, these insects composed 
the entire contents, save a trace of darkling and ground beetles. It 
required no less than 40 adults and 1 larva of the weevil to satisfy 
this bird's appetite. Another had eaten 18 adults. 
Of the other food taken during May, spiders, ground beetles, 
aquatic beetles, flies, bees, and wasps occurred in quantities decreas- 
ing in the order named. The high proportion of spiders recorded 
was the result of one of the birds having fed on them almost exclu- 
sively. A few grain hulls in one stomach probably came from waste 
material. 
The food for June, as learned from examination of eight stom- 
achs, gives a good idea of what may be expected of the killdeer under 
favorable conditions. The weevil formed nearly a third of the 
monthly food, and was present in all of the stomachs but one. Of 
two birds which had destroyed surprisingly large numbers of the 
insect, one, from a newly cut field, had eaten 9 adults and 307 larvae, 
and the other, feeding under similar conditions, had made away with 
7 adults and 376 larvae. A third had taken 42 larvae and 1 adult. 
Of other animal food items for this month ground beetles occurred 
in the greatest quantity. They were present in 6 of the 8 stomachs 
and comprised over 15 per cent of the monthly food. Snails were 
eaten extensively by two of the birds. Darkling beetles of the genus 
Blapstinus were frequently taken and formed nearly 11 per cent of 
the stomach contents. Dung beetles (Aphodius) , bill bugs (Spheno- 
phorus sp.), caterpillars, and wasps were other common ingredients. 
The vegetable portion was again unimportant, consisting entirely of 
weed seeds and rubbish. 
The killdeer in no part of its extensive range is known to injure 
farm produce. The worst that can be said of it is that in its indis- 
criminate destruction of insects it may pick up a few that are bene- 
ficial. These, however, form an extremely small proportion of the 
bird's fare, while serious pests, as mosquitoes, craneflies, grasshop- 
pers, and weevils of various kinds, are frequent components of its 
food. In addition to this already exceptional record, the killdeer 
must be considered as one of the most effective destroyers of alfalfa 
weevils. In early spring the birds are frequent visitors of infested 
fields, where many breeding weevils fall victims to the birds' voracity. 
The killdeer has been rightly removed from the class of game birds, 
where formerly it could be shot throughout much of its range. It 
may now continue its good work unmolested. 
