e been found in
its food.

Wireworms and their adult forms, click beetles, are devoured by the
northern phalarope, woodcock, jacksnipe, pectoral sandpiper, killdeer,
and upland plover. The last three feed also on the southern corn
leaf-beetle and the last two upon the grapevine colaspis. Other
shorebirds that eat leaf-beetles are the Wilson phalarope and dowitcher.

Crayfishes, which are a pest in rice and corn fields in the South and
which injure levees, are favorite food of the black-necked stilt, and
several other shorebirds feed upon them, notably the jacksnipe, robin
snipe, spotted sandpiper, upland plover, and killdeer.

Thus it is evident that shorebirds render important aid by devouring the
enemies of farm crops and in other ways, and their services are
appreciated by those who have observed the birds in the field. Thus W.A.
Clark, of Corpus Christi, Tex., reports that upland plovers are
industrious in following the plow and in eating the grubs that destroy
garden stuff, corn, and cotton crops. H.W. Tinkham, of Fall River,
Mass., says of the spotted sandpiper: "Three pairs nested in a young
orchard behind my house and adjacent to my garden. I did not see them
once go to the shore for food (shore about 1,500 feet away), but I did
see them many times make faithful search of my garden for cutworms,
spotted squash bugs, and green flies. Cutworms and cabbage worms were
their special prey. After the young could fly, they still kept at work
in my garden, and showed no inclination to go to the shore until about
August 15th. They and a flock of quails just over the wall helped me
wonderfully."

In the uncultivated parts of their range also, shorebirds search out and
destroy many creatures that are detrimental to man's interest. Several
species prey upon the predaceous diving beetles _(Dytiscidae),_ which
are a nuisance in fish hatcheries and which destroy many insects, the
natural food of fishes. The birds now known to take these beetles are:

Northern phalarope _(Lobipes lobatus)_.
Dowitcher _(Macrorhamphus griseus)_.
Wilson phalarope _(Steganopus tricolor)_.
Robin snipe _(Tringa canutus)_.
Avocet _(Recurvirostra americana)_.
Pectoral sandpiper _(Pisobia maculata)_.
Black-necked stilt _(Himantopus mexicanus_).
Red-backed sandpiper _(Pelidna alpina sakhalina)_.
Jacksnipe _(Gallinago delicata)_.
Kill deer _(Oxyechus vociferus)_.

Large numbers of marine worms of the genus _Nereis_, which prey upon
oysters, are