222 
BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
of other birds, especially the common Robin. Gentry, however, states that 
they destroy the young* of birds, a fact, as yet, unobserved by the writer. 
In referring to this species, Wilson very aptly remarks : “ As some 
consolation to the industrious cultivator, I can assure him that were I 
placed in his situation, I should hesitate whether to consider these birds 
most as friends or enemies, as they are particularly destructive to almost 
all the noxious worms, grubs and caterpillars that infest his fields, which, 
were they allowed to multiply unmolested, would soon consume nine- 
tenths of all the productions of his labor and desolate the country with 
the miseries of famine.” 
In concluding, attention is called to several series of stomach exami- 
nations, made at different periods during the past seven years, and from 
such work the reader can draw his own conclusions. 
March — Twenty-nine examined. They showed chiefly insects and 
seeds ; in five corn was present, and in four wheat and oats were found. 
All of these grains, however, were in connection with an excess of insect 
food. 
April — Thirty-three examined. They revealed chiefly insects, with but 
a small amount of vegetable matter. 
May — Eighty-two examined. Almost entirely insects, cut-worms be- 
ing especially frequent. 
June — Forty -three examined. Showed generally insects, cut worms 
in abundance ; fruits and berries present, but to very small extent. 
July — Twenty-four examined. Showed mainly insects ; berries pres- 
ent in limited amount. 
August — Twenty -three examined. Showed chiefly insects, berries and 
corn. 
September — Eighteen examined. Showed insects, berries, corn and 
seeds. 
October — During this month (1882), the writer made repeated visits 
to roosting resorts, where these birds were collected in great numbers, 
and shot three hundred and seventy-eight, which were examined. Of 
this number the following is the result of examinations, in detail, of one 
hundred and eleven stomachs: 
Thirty, corn and coleoptera (beetles); twenty-seven, corn only ; fifteen, ’ 
ortlioptera (grasshoppers) ; eleven, corn and seeds ; eleven, corn and orthop- 
tera ; seven, coleoptera ; three, coleoptera and ortlioptera; three, wheat 
and coleoptera ; two, wheat and corn ; one, wheat ; one, diptera (flies). 
The remaining two hundred and sixty-seven birds were taken from the 
10th to the 31st of the month, and their food was found to consist almost 
entirely of corn. 
These examinations show that late in the fall, when insect food is 
scarce, corn is especially preyed upon by these birds, but during the 
previous periods of their residence with us, insects form a large portion 
of their diet. 
In the West Chester (Pa.) Daily Neivs.Imie 15, 1880, the following men- 
