eaten by shorebirds. These worms are common on both the
Atlantic and Gulf coasts and are eaten by shorebirds wherever they
occur. It is not uncommon to find that from 100 to 250 of them have been
eaten at one meal. The birds known to feed upon them are:

Northern phalarope _(Lobipes lobatus)_.
White-rumped sandpiper _(Pisobia fuscicollis)_.
Dowitcher _(Macrorhamphus griseus_).
Stilt sandpiper _(Micropalama himantopus)_.
Red-backed sandpiper _(Pelidna alpina sakhalina)_.
Robin snipe _(Tringa canutus)_.
Purple sandpiper _(Arquatella maritima_).
Killdeer _(Oxyechus vociferus)_.

The economic record of the shorebirds deserves nothing but praise. These
birds injure no crop, but on the contrary feed upon many of the worst
enemies of agriculture. It is worth recalling that their diet includes
such pests as the Rocky Mountain locust and other injurious
grasshoppers, the army worm, cutworms, cabbage worms, cotton worm,
cotton cutworm, boll weevil, clover leaf weevil, clover root curculio,
rice weevil, corn bill-bugs, wireworms, corn leaf-beetles, cucumber
beetles, white grubs, and such foes of stock as the Texas fever tick,
horseflies, and mosquitoes. Their warfare on crayfishes must not be
overlooked, nor must we forget the more personal debt of gratitude we
owe them for preying upon mosquitoes. They are the most important bird
enemies of these pests known to us.

Shorebirds have been hunted until only a remnant of their once vast
numbers is left. Their limited powers of reproduction, coupled with the
natural vicissitudes of the breeding period, make their increase slow,
and peculiarly expose them to danger of extermination.

In the way of protection a beginning has been made, and a continuous
close season until 1915 has been established for the following birds:
The killdeer, in Massachusetts and Louisiana; the upland plover, in
Massachusetts, and Vermont; and the piping plover in Massachusetts. But,
considering the needs and value of these birds, this modicum of
protection is small indeed.

The above-named species are not the only ones that should be exempt
from persecution, for all the shorebirds of the United States are in
great need of better protection. They should be protected, first, to
save them from the danger of extermination, and, second, because of
their economic importance. So great, indeed, is their economic value,
that their retention on the game list and their destruction by sportsmen
is a serious loss t