INSECT FOOD OF CARDINAL. 



21 



1.17 percent of the subsistence, being eaten by 31 birds. In the larval 

 state these beetles excavate tunnels in trees and do immense damage. 

 Two species were identified in stomachs of the redbird, namely, the 

 locust borer {Agrilus egenus) and another {Dicerca ohscura) which 

 bores into various deciduous trees. The beetles of this family seem 

 to be a regular item of diet of all kinds of grosbeaks, and we may be 

 sure that their destruction is highly beneficial. 



The rather similar appearing click-beetles, adults of the disastrous 

 wireworms, were secured by 23 redbirds. Twelve birds ate long- 

 horned borers (Cerambycidse), 2 species being identified, neither of 

 which is an important pest. However, the entire family is injurious, 

 and the cardinal should be commended for diminishing the numbers 

 of any of the species. 



The closely related family of leaf-beetles (Chrysomelidse) does not 

 furnish a large percentage of the redbird's fare, although several of 

 its species are 

 captured. The 

 notorious s]jotted 

 cucumber - beetle 

 {Diahrotica 12- 

 punctata^ fig. 26) , 

 the strawberry 

 root - borer {Co- 

 laspis hrunnea) . 

 plum leaf - beetle 

 {Nodonota tris- 

 tis), sweet potato 

 leaf -beetle (Cop- fig. 

 focycla), willow 

 and poplar species {Chrysomela higshyana and Melasoma seripta), 

 besides some others that feed on weeds and other wild plants, are occa- 

 sionally eaten. Two additional species, the locust leaf-miner and the 

 three-lined potato beetle, deserve more extended notice. Concerning 

 the locust leaf-mining beetle {Odontota dorscdh^ fig. IG), Dr. S. D. 

 Judd says, in " Birds of a Maryland Farm : " « 



In the summer of 1895 a destructive outbreak * * * turned all the 

 locusts of the farm as l)rown as if they had been scorched by fire, ruiniuR the 

 verdure of the river bluff. * * * From 1896 to 1902, inclusive, the beetles 

 did not aKain ruin the foliajje. * * * In 1890 the trees further up the river, 

 however, were turned brown, showing that the escape of those at Marshall Hall 

 was not due to climatic ccmditions unfavorable to the insects; therefore it is 

 possible that the birds were at least to some extent responsible for it. 



h a 



16. — Locust leaf-miner (Odontota dorsalis). 

 tenden, Bureau of Entomology.) 



(From Chit- 



« Bull. 17, Biological Survey, 1902, pp. 29-30. 



