LAND BIRDS. 667 



bugs. Subject therefore to many reservations I should sa}^ that the 

 ordinary services do not entitle it to special protection" (Trans. 111. State 

 Hort. Soc, Vol 13, 1879, 135, 136). 



In 1880 Prof. Forbes, after further study of the food of the Thrasher, 

 states: "It takes ants more freely than the Robin, but eats comparatively 

 few caterpillars; 7 percent of each were found in the food of the year. 

 Diptera are taken in very trivial quantity, and hemiptera in moderate 

 numl)er only. In the garden it plays a part very similar to that of the 

 other thrushes, but is less mischievous on the whole. It relishes the whole 

 list of garden fruits and later in the season resorts to the wild fruit of the 

 woods and thickets. Compared with the Robin this bird is seen to be 

 especially peculiar in the filth-eating habit already mentioned as dis- 

 tinguishing it from all other thrushes. It takes about half as many 

 lepidoptera, about half as many again coleoptera, nearly twice as many 

 carabidffi and three times as many leaf-chafers, but eats comparatively 

 few grapes and cherries" (Ibid, Vol. 14, 1880, 113-114). Reporting in 

 1881 on two Brown Thrashers killed in a canker-worm orchard in Tazewell 

 county. 111., Prof. Forbes says: "Nearly one-fourth of their food consisted 

 of canker-worms and 10 percent of cut worms. Ground beetles (harpalids) 

 lirought the average of predaceous beetles up to 24 percent. Twelve 

 ])ercent of spring beetles and 5 percent of snout beetles were the most 

 interesting items remaining." In regard to the chinch bug Prof. Forbes 

 writes as follows: "Among the birds shot in 1880 during midsummer, 

 when the chinch-bug was abundant enough in central Illinois to cause some 

 alarm, three Brown Thrashers were found to have eaten these insects in 

 barelv sufficient number to show that they have no unconquerable prejudice 

 against them" (Ibid, Vol. 15, 1881, 130). 



Dr. Judd, in his report on the food of the Brown Thrasher, says: "The 

 proportion of the different elements of food of the Brown Thrasher, as 

 determined by an examination of 121 stomachs collected from Maine to 

 Florida and as far west as Kansas, is as follows: Animal matter 63 percent; 

 vegetable 35; mineral 2. Beetles form one-half of the animal food, grass- 

 hoppers and crickets one-fifth, caterpillars somewhat less than one-fifth, 

 bugs, spiders and thousandlegs about one-tenth. The percentage of 

 food taken from cultivated crops by the Thrasher amounts to only 11 

 percent; of this 8 percent is fruit and the rest grain. * * * The Thrasher 

 cats 8 percent of ground beetles supposed to be beneficial, but to offset 

 this he destroj-s an equal volume of caterpillars, to say nothing of grass- 

 hoppers, crickets, weevils, click and leaf beetles. Two-thirds of the bird's 

 food is animal; the vegetable food is mostly fruit, but the quantity taken 

 fi'om cultivated crops is offset by three times that volume of insect pests. 

 In destroying insects the Thrasher is helping to keep in check organisms 

 the undue increase of which disturbs the balance of nature and threatens 

 our welfare. * * * Although the Thrasher takes its maximum of 

 17 i)ercent of cultivated fruits, mainly red and black ]'aspl)erries, with a 

 few currants, in July, the horticulturist at this time does not mind the loss, 

 because there is plenty; on the contrary, when cherries and berries first 

 commence to ripen they bring good prices antl the loss is keenlv felt" 

 (Yearl)ook, U. S. Dept. Agr., 1895, 412-413). 



In Michigan the Brown Thrasher is nowhere too abundant, on tiie 



whole is decidedly useful, and should be rigidly protected. Cherries 



and other fruits can be protected in the same way as recommended for 



■other birds, and the Thrashei' can be preserved lo desti'o\- the thousands 



