TENNESSEE WARBLER 81 



into a grape. Sometimes they withdrew them quickly ; again they poked around 

 in the interior of tlie grape a little, and always after these attacks, they lifted 

 their heads as in drinking. This action suggested a reason for piercing the 

 grapes, that I am satisfied is the true one, that is, the obtaining of liquid 

 refreshment. 



A supply of available drinking water for the birds, might help to 

 protect the grapes. And, as the warblers feed on insects that seriously 

 damage the grapevines, the good work they do may compensate for 

 the grapes that they damage. The stomach of one Tennessee warbler 

 examined by Mr. McAtee contained a Typhlocyha comes^ an especial 

 pest of the grape, a destructive jassid or leafhopper, 6 caterpillars 

 which were doing all in their power to eat up the leaves remaining 

 on the vines, 2 spiders, a bug (Corizus), a weevil, and one parasitic 

 hymenopteron (the only insect that was not harmful). 



S. A. Forbes (1883) found that a stomach taken from an orchard 

 infested by canker-worms contained about 80 percent of these destruc- 

 tive larvae and about 20 per cent beetles. Professor Aughey (1878) 

 observed these warblers catching young locusts in Nebraska. Clarence 

 F. Smith adds, in some notes sent to me, that "in the fall, during migra- 

 tion time, Tennessee warblers often glean their food from dense 

 patches of such weeds as sunflower, goldenrod, and ragweed," and 

 that "sumac, poison ivy, and other berries are sometimes eaten in small 

 quantity." 



F. H. King (1883) has considerable to say about the damage done 

 to Delaware and Catawba grapes in Wisconsin; as soon as they are 

 wounded, they are attacked by ants, bees, and flies and soon destroyed. 

 But he thinks the service rendered more than compensates for the 

 harm done. He refers to the feeding habits of the Tennessee warbler 

 as follows: 



It is very dexterous in its movements, and obtains the greater part of its food 

 upon and among the terminal foliage of trees. Titmouse-like, it often swings 

 pendant from a leaf while it secures an insect which it has discovered. Small 

 insects of various kinds, not especially attractive to larger birds, are destroyed 

 by this species in large numbers ; and its slender, acute bill serves it much better 

 in picking up these forms than a heavier, more clumsy one could. * * * Of 

 thirty-three specimens examined, two had eaten two very small hymenoptera 

 (probably parasitic); seven, thirteen caterpillars; three, fifteen diptera ; six, 

 thirteen beetles; three, forty-two plant-lice, among which were two specimens 

 of the corn plant-louse Aphis maidis (?) ; three, thirty-five small heteroptera, 

 .09 of an inch long ; and one, eleven insect eggs. 



Alexander F. Skutch has sent me the following interesting notes on 

 the feeding habits of the Tennessee warbler in Central America : "I 

 was surprised to find last month [March] that these warblers were 

 visiting my feeding shelf on the guava tree in the yard. About the only 

 food I ever serve to the birds on this table is bananas and occasionally 

 plantains ; and my chief guests are tanagers of about half a dozen bril- 



