In response to a general demand for definite information regarding the food habits of our native birds, the biological Survey of the Department of Agriculture has for some years past been conducting a systematic investigation of the food of species which are believed to be of economic importance. Thousands of birds' stomachs have been carefully examined in the laboratory, and all the available data respecting the food brought together. The results of the investigations relating to birds of prey, based on an examination of nearly 3,000 stomachs, were published in 1893, in a special bulletin entitled The Hawks and Owls of the United States. Many other species have been similarly studied and the results published, either in special bulletins or as articles in the yearbooks. The present bulletin contains brief abstracts of the results of food studies of about 30 grain and insect eating birds belonging to 10 different families.[1] [1] The limits of this bulletin preclude giving more than a very brief statement regarding the food of each bird, but more detailed accounts of some of the species will be found in the following reports of the Biological Survey (formerly Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy): The Cuckoos--Bulletin No. 9, 1898, pp. 1-14; Crow--Bulletin No. 6, 1895, pp. 1-98; Woodpeckers--Bulletin No. 7, 1895, pp. 1-39; Kingbird--Annual Report Secretary of Agriculture for 1893, pp. 233-234; Redwinged Blackbird--Yearbook for 1897, pp. 349-351; Baltimore Oriole--Yearbook for 1895, pp. 426-430; Grackles--Yearbook for 1894, pp. 233-248; Meadowlark--Yearbook for 1895, pp. 420-426; Cedarbird--Annual Report Secretary of Agriculture for 1892, pp. 197-200; Catbird, Brown Thrasher, and Wren--Yearbook for 1895, pp. 405-418. These species comprise among others the crow blackbirds and ricebirds, against which serious complaints have been made on account of the damage they do to corn, wheat, rice, and other crops; and also the cuckoos, grosbeaks, and thrashers, which are generally admitted to be beneficial, but whose true value as insect destroyers has not been fully appreciated. The practical value of birds in controlling insect pests should be more generally recognized. It maybe an easy matter to exterminate the birds in an orchard or grain field, but it is an extremely difficult one to control the insect pests. It is, certain, too, that the value of our native sparrows as weed destroyers is not appreciated. Weed seed forms an important item of the winter food of many of these birds, and it is impossible to estimate the immense numbers of noxious weeds which are thus annually destroyed.