The Mormon Cricket as Food for Birds

Abstract

By IRA LA RIVERS . The list of birds which eat the Mormon cricket (An&us simplex) is sizable and these species constitute a potent natural control of the insect. The cricket, actually a long-horned grasshopper, yearly causes damage in Elko, Eureka, Lander, and Humboldt counties, Nevada, by destroying large quantities of range and field forage, crops, and garden stuffs. Parts of these northern Nevada counties, particularly northern Elko County, rival the best rangeland in the West. Mormon crickets were first destructively active among the early settlers of the Utah of 1848, and have since been reported in several adjoining states. The Nevada records of these insects date back to 1878, when a band migrated through the mining town of Tuscarora, Elko County. Since then, there have been periodic invasions, the present one not attaining any importance until 1932. While working on the controlprogram in northern Nevada during the summer of 1939, I made the following observations on bird-cricket relationships.