_Food habits._--So varied is this task of evening up in nature that if
attended to properly the workers must be numerous in individuals and
possess widely different habits. That such is the case can readily be
seen by the following brief account of the various groups of our
Nebraska birds, along with brief statements of their food habits.

The Grebes and Loons feed chiefly upon snails and other aquatic
animals such as are found about their haunts. They also capture many
grasshoppers and similar insects that happen in their way. They
cannot, therefore, be classed among the especially beneficial birds,
neither can they be termed injurious on account of what they eat.

The Gulls, provided as they are with long wings and great powers for
flight, are not confined to the seacoast, hence they reach far inland
in their migrations, feeding extensively upon insects like locusts,
June-beetles, crickets, etc., large numbers of which they destroy
annually. Several kinds of these birds are known to follow the plough
and pick up the white grubs and other insects that are turned up and
laid bare. In early days, when grasshoppers did much harm in this
state, numerous flocks of these birds were seen to feed upon these
insects.

The Cormorants and Pelicans are chiefly destroyers of fishes and
frogs, hence can hardly be classed among the most beneficial forms;
but whether or not they do any more than to maintain the necessary
equilibrium in that particular part of the vast field of nature it is
difficult to judge without time for investigation.

The various Ducks and Geese which are also nearly as aquatic in their