STATE HORTICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 



139 



few scavenger-beetles, not many hemiptera, many oethoptera, few thou- 

 sand-legs, much fruit and no grain. We see that the cat-bird substantially 

 agrees with the robin with respect to mollusks, crane-flies, predaceous 

 beetles, scavenger-beetles, hemiptera, oethoptera, fruits and grain, but 

 differs by eating many ants, fewer caterpillars and many thousand -legs. 



The brown thrush and robin agree respecting mollusks, j^redaceous 

 beetles, hemiptera, oethoptera, thousand-legs and fruit, but differ notably 

 in the ratios of ants, caterpillars, crane-flies, scavenger-beetles and grain. 

 The brown thrush and the cat-bird, again, vie with each other in their 

 pursuit of ants, predaceous beetles and cethoptera, and in their love of 

 fruit, and seem to visit mollusks and hemiptera with an equal neglect, 

 but diverge sensibly in their views regarding crane-flies, scavenger-beetles 

 and grain. 



The wood thrush is distinguished from the first two chiefly by the 

 much larger number of crane-flies and thousand-legs ; and from the 

 brown thrush by the lack of scavenger-beetles and grain. Its apparent 

 choice of mollusks is also remarkable. 



The records of the migrants can fairly be compared with those of the 

 residents only during the months when the migrants are here. 



The hermit thrush is especially notable as compared with the robin 

 in May (the month when our hermit thrushes were shot) for the large 

 number of ants (thirteen to one), the smaller number of caterpillars 

 (seventeen to thirty-two), the total absence of crane-flies (the robin 

 eating twenty-four per cent, of these in May), the immense number of 

 carabidae (twelve to four), the predominance of scavenger-beetles (five to 

 one), of hemiptera (nine to nothing), and of oethoptera (ten to nothing). 

 The ratios of crane-flies, carabidse and hemiptera are its principal points 

 of distinction from the cat-bird, the latter eating of these in May twenty- 

 three per cent., seven per cent, and none, respectively. With the brown 

 thrush, in this month, it contrasts at every point, these two species 

 apparently complementing each other as nicely as Jack Spratt and his 

 wife. 



From the small number of the other migrants examined it is hardly 

 worth while to carry the comparison farther. Enough has been done, in 

 my opinion, to establish a strong probability that allied species differ 

 materially in their food under similar or identical conditions; that, with 

 many tastes in common, each has its peculiarities. All traveling in the 

 same direction, each tends towards a separate point. The relation of 

 these food differences to specific and other distinctions is a tempting and 

 intensely interesting subject, but one which we are not by any means 

 ready to enter upon. 



Considering the family as a unit, I have worked out a few general 

 averages showing the main outlines of the effect produced by all the 

 thrushes taken together, supposing that the numbers of the different 

 species taken by us represent approximately the comparative abundance 

 of those species. As no special pains was taken to get one species more 

 than another, and as more of them are specially sought by taxidermists, 

 this is probably a fair presumption. 



