THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 191 



A few may be said to be beneficial, in consequence of their feeding on 

 troublesome weeds, such as thistles, etc., while a few others are decidedly 

 injurious. Among the common birds in this second class I would mention 

 the yellow warbler or spider bird, Dendroeca cestiva ; the red start, Setophaga 

 ruticilla ; the red-eyed and yellow-throated vireos, Vino olivaceus and V. 

 flavifrons ; the various species of woodpecker, Picidce, and the blue bird, 

 Siala sialis. 



The birds comprised in the third class are only partially insectivorous. 

 Among the common species are the cat-bird, Galeoscoptes Carolinensis ; 

 robin, Turdus migra tortus, and brown thrush, Harpoihynchus rufus ; the 

 sparrows, Fringillidce ; the cuckoos, Coccidce ; the nuthatch, Sitta Carolin- 

 ensis ; chickadee, Parus atricapillus ; kinglets, Sylviidce ; meadow-lark, 

 Sturnella magna ; Baltimore oriole, Icterus Baltimore, and the wren, Trog- 

 lodytes cedon. Besides these there are the blackbirds, Icterida;, 

 which in the spring devour more or less insect food, but feed chiefly on 

 grain and seeds during the remainder of the year. Nearly all birds, 

 excepting the rapacious species, feed their young on such soft food as 

 worms, caterpillars, soft-bodied insects and fruit, and from the time that 

 young birds are hatched until they acquire the power of flight, a very 

 large quantity of insect food is undoubtedly consumed ; but the question 

 of the greatest practical importance to the agriculturist is how far are the 

 birds a help in keeping in check injurious insects. With the object of 

 obtaining light on this point, I have, with the help of my son, W. E. 

 Saunders — who has for some years paid special attention to this matter — 

 examined the contents of the stomachs of a large number of birds, and 

 I must frankly confess that the larger the experience gained in this direc- 

 tion the more I have been convinced that but comparatively little help is 

 got from birds in keeping in subjection injurious insects. 



When the cut worms were so common with us this spring that any 

 bird with a very little effort might have had its fill of them, the contents 

 of a number of stomachs were examined, especially those of the robin, 

 but not a single specimen of this larva was found in any of them. It 

 has been urged that some birds devour the larvae of the plum curculio by 

 picking them out of the fallen fruit, but I have failed to find any con- 

 firmation of this statement, indeed never found a curculio larva in the 

 stomach of any bird excepting once in that of a robin, who had evidently 

 swallowed it by accident when bolting a whole cherry. As for the robin 

 having any claims upon the sympathies of man for the good he does, I 



