DICKCISSEL. 91 
plant-feeding and x>redaceous habits. The lepidopterous element, 
which is exceedingly small in comparison with that of many other 
species, is composed of smooth caterpillars of the families Geo- 
metridse and Noctuidaa, except that one bird, contrary to the habits 
of most species, had fed on a black caterpillar beset with bristling 
hairs. Moths are also preyed on, and from information obtained 
through experiments (see p. 48), it is highly probable that, as seems 
to be the case with the sharp-tailed sparrow and a number of others, 
the smaller dull-colored species, popularly known as millers, are 
snapped up whenever an opportunity offers. 
The Coleoptera entering into the food comprise ground-beetles, 
including some of the very beneficial sharp-jawed species, 1 percent; 
leaf -beetles, mostly dark, obscure species, 1 percent; weevils (Rhyn- 
chophora), largely Sitones and species of similar habits, 3 percent; 
little dung-beetles (Scarabseidse and Histerida?), 4 percent; and click- 
beetles and small long-horned beetles, takon together, 2 percent. 
But it is as a destroyer of grasshoppers that the dickcissel excels. 
If it ate twice the quantity of useful insects and grain and destroyed 
no weed seed at all, it would still be a useful species because 
of the enormous number of grasshoppers and crickets it consumes. 
From June to August, inclusive, half of its diet consists of these 
destructive insects. It feeds eagerly on short-horned grasshoppers 
(Acrididae), long-horned grasshoppers (Locustida?), and crickets 
(Gryllidae). The stomachs examined contained more crickets and 
long-horned grasshoppers than those of any other bird whose food 
habits have yet been investigated by this Department. The short- 
horned grasshoppers eaten included such forms as are general^ 
found in stomachs of birds, the red-legged locust (Mdanoplus femur- 
rubrum) and the Rocky Mountain locust (Melanoplus spretus) as 
usual, being most common. During the invasion of the last-named 
species, Professor Aughey examined some stomachs of the dickcissel, 
and found in each the remains of these pests, one alone containing 
twenty-seven. 1 
The large consumption of Orthoptera seems odd when one bears in 
mind the statement of Wallace that "The whole order of Orthoptera, 
grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, etc., are protected by their colors har- 
monizing with that of the vegetation or the soil on which they live. 
* * * AVe need not adduce anymore examples to show how impor- 
tant are the details of form and of coloring in animals, and that their 
very existence may often depend upon their being by these means 
concealed from their enemies." 2 But that birds are sharp-eyed enough 
to seek out a great many Orthoptera, is unmistakably shown by the 
food of the dickcissel, the grasshopper sparrow, the lark sparrow, and 
•many other species. 
1 First Ann. Report U. S. Entomological Commission, App. II, p. 32, 1878. 
2 Natural Selection, p. 63, 1870. 
