. Bulletin. Animals -- United States; Birds -- United States. INSECT POOD OF THE BLUE GROSBEAK. 83 Injurious beetles comprise percent of the grosbeak's food, almost half ( percent) of which amount consists of members of the May beetle family (Scaraba^idse). Adult June bugs, and their larvae, the white grubs, w^ere devoured by some birds to the exclusion of other food, and 1 grosbeak had eaten 3 of the common dung- beetles (Aphodius fimetarius). Weevils are next in importance among beetles, and percent of the bird's seasonal food w^as made up of these pests. Many of them were sca
. Bulletin. Animals -- United States; Birds -- United States. INSECT POOD OF THE BLUE GROSBEAK. 83 Injurious beetles comprise percent of the grosbeak's food, almost half ( percent) of which amount consists of members of the May beetle family (Scaraba^idse). Adult June bugs, and their larvae, the white grubs, w^ere devoured by some birds to the exclusion of other food, and 1 grosbeak had eaten 3 of the common dung- beetles (Aphodius fimetarius). Weevils are next in importance among beetles, and percent of the bird's seasonal food w^as made up of these pests. Many of them were scarred snout-beetles (Otio- rhynchidse) and curculios (Curculionidae) ; some of them certainly were injurious species. Two grosbeaks selected the conspicuously red and black colored billbug {R hod oh a mis l-S-punctatas). each eating 2. Leaf-beetles (Chrysomelidse), wood-borers (Buprestidae), click-beetles (Elateridge), and long-horned beetles (Cerambycidae), nearly all of which are injurious, were also devoured. The most important element of the animal food, however, is grass- hoppers. Crickets and long and short horned grasshoppers are eagerly consumed, composing percent of the total food. Thirty- two of the 51 blue grosbeaks ate them, several taking nothing else. They are fed to the nestlings in generous meas- 1 r'fl + Fig. 3n.—Lesser migratory locust {Melanophis atlanis). (From Ure, ana Wltnout Lugger. Minnesota Experiment Station.) doubt are the most important single article of diet. During one of the historic out- breaks of the Eocky Mountain locust, the blue grosbeak was found to feed on other grasshoppers among the swarming hordes, and it is cer- tain that the pest itself was not overlooked. A very closely-related species, called in contradistinction the lesser migi'atory locust {31 e- lanoplvs atkmis, fig. 39), has been identified from the stomachs exam- ined. But little insect food in addition to that above discussed is con- sumed. A fly or a wasp is rarely secur
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