SOUTHERN AMERICAN REDSTART 669 



feeds upon a great variety of caterpillars including the smaller hairy 

 types. It may be seen in orchards, where various observers have 

 noted its fondness for cankerworms, and it has also been seen to 

 feed on brown-tail and gipsy moths. Forbush (1907) saw one red- 

 start eat 31 gipsy moth larvae before it left the clump of willows in 

 which he was able to watch it at close range. At another time he saw 

 a redstart take 11 brown-tail larvae from an apple tree in the course 

 of 5 minutes. 



W. L. McAtee (1926) in his study of the relation of birds to wood- 

 lots in New York State writes : "Rations for the Redstart consist en- 

 tirely of insects, spiders, and daddy-long-legs. Beetles, including 

 flea beetles, leaf beetles, and round-headed wood borers ; caterpillars 

 and moths; and such true bugs as spittle insects, tree hoppers, and 

 leaf hoppers are commonly taken. The Redstart devours also some 

 hymenoptera, mayflies, and diptera including craneflies. Busy at all 

 times in the pursuit of insect prey, the Redstart in the long run must 

 account for vast numbers of the forms injurious to trees." 



While the vast majority of the insects eaten by the redstart are 

 harmful to man's interest it must be admitted that it does feed on a 

 few beneficial insects such as the parasitic Hymenoptera and Diptera 

 as well as an occasional ladybird beetle which are classed as useful. 



Although the redstait is preeminently an insect destroyer it has 

 been known to eat berries and seeds on rare occasions. Aretas A. 

 Saunders (1938) reports that in Allegany State Park, N. Y., they 

 feed on shadbush berries; George A. Petrides (1943) reported them 

 feeding on the berries of Berberis ieaXei; and A. H. Howell (1932) 

 states that in addition to its usual food, while the birds are migrating 

 through Florida, it feeds on magnolia seeds as well as on spiders, 

 plant lice, and scale insects. 



Alexander Wetmore (1916) reported on his examination of the 

 food found in 13 stomachs of redstarts, which he collected in Puerto 

 Rico during the montlis of December, January, February, and April, 

 as follows: 



In these animal food amounts to 100 per cent. Small lantern files (Fulgoridae) 

 occur nine times and form 37.23 per cent of the total. Longicorn beetles make 

 up 0.57 per cent, snout beetles 1.5 per cent and miscellaneous species 2.54 per 

 cent. All are classed as injurious species save a single ladybird beetle, so small 

 that it is lost in the bulk of the others. Moth remains amount to 11.75 per cent, 

 while no caterpillars were eaten. Hymenoptera remains (6.67 percent) were 

 found in five stomachs. Approximately two-thirds of these small species, prob- 

 ably of parasitic habit. One that parasitizes ants was definitely identified as 

 a species of Kapala. Diptera (39.24 per cent) were present in eight of the 

 stomachs examined. One bird had eaten a spider, and another insect eggs, both 

 amounting to only 5 per cent. 



Though present only in winter, this small warbler is a bird of economic im- 

 portance. It destroys thousands of lantern files, abundant in the trees and 



