tents, Mr. Beal says:

"The real food is composed of 24.3 per cent of animal matter and 75.7
per cent of vegetable matter, or a trifle more than three times as much
vegetable as animal. The animal food is chiefly made up of insects,
with a few spiders, myriapods, snails, and small vertebrates, such as
fish, salamanders, tree frogs, mice, and birds. Everything was
carefully examined which might by any possibility indicate that birds
or eggs had been eaten, but remains of birds were found in only two,
and the shells of small birds' eggs in only three of the 292 stomachs.
One of these, taken on February tenth, contained the bones, claws, and
a little skin of a bird's foot. Another, taken on June twenty-fourth,
contained the remains of a young bird. The three stomachs with bird's
eggs were collected in June, August, and October, respectively. The
shell eaten in October belonged to the egg of some larger bird like the
ruffed grouse and, considering the time of year, was undoubtedly merely
an empty shell from an old nest. Shells of eggs which were identified
as those of domesticated fowls, or some bird of equal size, were found
in eleven stomachs, collected at irregular times during the year. This
evidence would seem to show that more eggs of domesticated fowls than
of wild birds are destroyed, but it is much more probable that these
shells were obtained from refuse heaps about farm-houses."

Mr. Beal's dissections are very significant, proving that the jay is
not only not so destructive of eggs and bantlings as was supposed, but
also that he destroys many noxious insects, and is, therefore, a bird
of real economic value. The great bulk of his insect diet consists of
beetles, grasshoppers, and caterpillars, with a few bugs, wasps, and
flies, and an occasional spider and myriapod. The average of insect
food for the whole year was 23 per cent, varying from less than 1 per
cent in January to over 66 per cent in August, and it is gratifying to
know that predaceous beetles and tent caterpillars form a large part of
the jay's bill of fare.

His demands upon domesticated fruits and grains are comparatively
light. He cares more for acorns and mast than for corn. The last he
does not greatly relish, but eats it chiefly when the snow covers his
favorite food. It is a little surprising that he occasionally varies
his diet with fish, salamanders, tree frogs, mice, and shrews. Mr.
Beal's conclusion is put in the following s