. Bulletin - Biological Survey. Zoology, Economic. COKSTITTJENTS OF FOOD. 9. Fig. 3.—Leaf-beetle {Systena hlanda) (after Chittenden; loaned by Division of Ento- mology). and Acridid^—see fig. 2). Coleoptera form a most important ele- ment of bird food, the families of this order most largely represented being the Scaraba3id8e or scarabseid beetles, the Carabidfe or ground- beetles, the Elateridse or click-beetles, the Chrysomelidse or leaf- beetles, and the Rhynchophora or weevils. Some of the scarabseids that are eaten are the clumsy brown May-beetles and their allies, which feed on growing p
. Bulletin - Biological Survey. Zoology, Economic. COKSTITTJENTS OF FOOD. 9. Fig. 3.—Leaf-beetle {Systena hlanda) (after Chittenden; loaned by Division of Ento- mology). and Acridid^—see fig. 2). Coleoptera form a most important ele- ment of bird food, the families of this order most largely represented being the Scaraba3id8e or scarabseid beetles, the Carabidfe or ground- beetles, the Elateridse or click-beetles, the Chrysomelidse or leaf- beetles, and the Rhynchophora or weevils. Some of the scarabseids that are eaten are the clumsy brown May-beetles and their allies, which feed on growing plants; others comprise a group of beetles commonly known as dung- beetles, because they subsist on the droppings of animals. Ground-beetles are alert, active insects, carnivorous in food habits. Click- beetles are narrow and hard-shelled; when dis- turbed, they curl up and 'play possum' until the danger appears to be past, when they spring into the air by spasmodically straightening out their bodies with a sharp clicking sound. Their larvae, wireworms, are often very destructive to crops. The leaf-beetles (see fig. 3) taken by birds are pests of little economic importance. Weevils (see fig. 4) constitute a destructive class of insect pests, and are extensively prej^ed on. Diptera furnish no sig- nificant part of the food of birds, though the slow-moving crane-flies (Tipulid?e) and midges (Chironomidse) are at times snapped up, and some larval Diptera are occasionally eaten. The Hemiptera include both leaf-hoppers (Jassidse), which derive their sustenance by probing plants with their sucking beaks, and true bugs, which are flat, bad- smelling insects. Some of the bugs feed like leaf-hoppers on the juices of plants, while others are predatory and subsist on succulent insects. The hymenopterous element of bird food is composed of ants, wasps, and a few small bees, the wasps including flower-fertiliz- ing species and parasitic species of the families Ichneumonidse (see fig. 5),
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