INSECT FOOD OF CARDINAL. " 15 



The cardinal is frequently alluded to in ornithological literature as 

 preying upon bees. Peter Kalm published the first of these state- 

 ments in 1770, and the later ones were probably suggested by, if not 

 copied from, his. Wilson (1831), Nuttall (1832), and later authors 

 reiterate the charge, though the context does not show that any of 

 them knew of the matter at first hand. It is quite possible that, so 

 far as this particular trait is concerned, the cardinal has been con- 

 founded with the similarly colored but otherwise very diflferent sum- 

 mer redbird, which is well known to prey upon bees. At any rate, it 

 is significant that the present examination did not reveal a single bee 

 among the insect food of the redbirds. On the whole, the cardinal 

 shows no great relish for Hymenoptera, and among the species eaten 

 those injurious to man and the less valuable kinds predominate. 



Among other possibly beneficial insects, the redbirds had eaten an 

 assassin bug and a remarkable predaceous neuropteron {Mantis pa 

 hrunnea) , also a nymphal and an adult dragon fly. The latter crea- 

 tures probably do as much harm in destroying young fish as good in 

 preying upon insects. At most, not more than 2 percent, probably 

 much less, of the cardinal's food consists of useful insects, while 12 

 times as much consists of injurious species, the destruction of which 

 is a benefit. 



One of the most important constituents of the major proportion 

 is Lepidoptera. They compose 5.08 percent of the annual subsis- 

 tence, amounting, however, in May to 26.71 percent. The adults 

 taken consist of 5 moths and 1 butterfly, which together make up 0.17 

 percent of the food. Caterpillars are much more relished and 137 

 redbirds fed upon them, sometimes obtaining from 7 to 18 each. The 

 cotton worm {Alabama argillacea^ fig. 20), Avhich formerly was a 

 serious pest and which even now spoils a late-planted crop, was eaten 

 by 3 cardinals. There is evidence that the bird habitually feeds upon 

 this insect, and as early as 1885 C. V. Riley remarked " that '' birds 

 are of incalculable benefit " in combating the cotton worm, and the 

 cardinal is one of those which prey upon it more or less persistently. 



A second cotton pest, the bollwomi {Heliothis ohsoleta, fig. 8), 

 which is familiar also as the corn ear-worm, is occasionally devoured, 

 and a third, the cotton cutworm {Prodenia ornithogaUi, fig. 9) is 

 greatly relished. Ninety-six of the latter were eaten by 31 cardinals 

 from the Texas cotton fields. The destruction of cotton insects by 

 the redbird is important, since the bird is numerous in the cotton re- 

 gion and feeds upon the worst enemies of the plant. 



The sphinx caterpillars, so many of which are injurious to culti- 

 vated plants, were eaten by 20 redbirds. The species identified are 

 the laurel sphinx (Sphinx kalmire) and the purslane sphinx {Deile- 

 phila liTieata, fig. 38), the latter being a general feeder and attacking 

 « Fourth Ann. Rep. U. S. Ent. Comm. 1885, p. 88. 

 18848— Bull. 32—08 2 



