100 
The Food of Birds. 
food of the month. Four birds are to he credited with the 
thirty per cent, of caterpillars destroyed. Abont two- 
thirds of these were cutworms, among which Agrotis 
messoria* was recognized. A few were the larvae of Arc- 
tiidse, probably Callimorpha. Eighteen per cent, of the 
food eaten by seven of the birds, was made np of Cole- 
optera, two-thirds of which were scavenger beetles 
(. Aphodius fimetarius and A. inquinatus) . Carabidae and 
their larvae made but two per cent, of the food. Harpalus 
was the only genus distinguished. A few Histeridae, a 
few wireworms (larval Elateridse), a soldier-beetle (Teh 
ephorus bilineatus ), and traces of long-snouted curcu- 
liosf were the remaining beetles. Hemiptera were found 
in somewhat larger number and variety than in the pre- 
ceding month. Among these were the raptatorial species, 
Coriscus ferus, and also Phytocoris lineolaris, Coenus 
d.elius and Euschistus servus. The soldier-bugs (Penta- 
tomidae) made about two-tliirds of the three per cent, of 
Hemiptera taken in this month. Grasshoppers were 
present in about the same amount as before, and the 
same species appeared in the food. A few spiders and 
thousand-legs and berries of sumach (Rhus glabra) com- 
plete the list. The large percentages of cutworms, Bibio 
larvae and dung-beetles are thus seen to be the principal 
features of the food of these birds. Excluding the Bib- 
ionidae, about thirty-seven per cent, of the food was com- 
posed of injurious insects and six per cent, of beneficial 
species. 
April. 
The robin is represented in my notes of this month by 
seventeen birds shot at Normal, Warsaw, Elizabeth and 
Hanover (JoDaviess county), Waukegan and Evanston, 
at various dates between the 2d and 27tli. The high insect 
averages are maintained. Caterpillars are nearly as 
* All the cutworms but one mentioned in this paper were determined by 
Prof. Riley. 
t I have used throughout this paper the somewhat artificial divisions 
of Longirostres and Brevirostres as applied to the Rhynchophora, because 
nearly all the especially injurious species belong to the former section. 
In fact, I have not hesitated to use an obsolete classification wherever 
the groups thus formed correspond better to the differences of food habit 
or of economic value than those made by the highest modern authorities. 
