6 BULLETIN" 107, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
spring the writer witnessed the work of this bird on alfalfa fields, 
where it was common to see 200 to 300 following a harrow or plow 
in search of grubs, cutworms, and other insects turned up. Only 
five gulls were examined, and all but one were from badly infested 
alfalfa fields. In the stomach of only one was the weevil found. 
Other prey, such as earthworms, ground beetles, and fly larvae, 
seemed more attractive than the weevil to these birds. Apparently 
some had recently been feeding on the barren alkali flats surrounding 
Great Salt Lake. In one stomach were about 450 of the small car- 
abid beetle (Pogonus planatus), so common about the decayed bodies 
of waterfowl which have died of disease in the vicinity of the Jordan 
Kiver marsh, and in another were large numbers of pupa? of the 
alkali fly (Ephydra gracilis). 
Though the California gull is one of the most valuable of Utah 
birds, as a weevil destroyer it is unimportant. However, so impor- 
tant are its services in other directions that it deserves the careful 
protection it receives. 
WILSON'S PHALAROPE. 
(Steganopus tricolor.) 
A single stomach of Wilson's phalarope was examined, and the 
remains of one adult weevil were detected. Wilson's phalarope, 
however, can not be expected to render much service as a weevil 
destroyer, as its feeding habits restrict it largely to the immediate 
vicinity of lake shores and river banks. 
KILLDEER. 
(Oxyechus vocifems.) 
The killdeer is found everywhere in the Salt Lake Valley, even 
to the upper edges of watered lands, where the highest irrigating 
ditches supply it with all the aquatic environment it needs. How- 
ever, it appears to be more widely scattered in the spring than later 
in the season, when more are found about Great Salt Lake and along 
the Jordan River. Irrigation on an alfalfa field is always a great 
attraction, and in such situations as many as six or eight of these 
birds may be found in a field of three to four acres. Cutworms here 
fall easy prey. 
Nineteen killdeers were examined, six of which were obtained in 
April. The weevil, aggregating 3.5 per cent of the food, was found 
in five of the six taken in that month. In each case the adult form 
was eaten and was found on an average of 4f per stomach. 
Caterpillars (cutworms in some cases) constituted nearly 37 per 
cent of the food, and ground beetles came next with a percentage of 
19.3. A large quantity of aquatic beetles in one stomach brought 
the monthly average of this food up to nearly 9 per cent, while 
