8 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 pabt i 



fireflies, lamellicorn beetles, long-horned beetles, snout beetles, leaf 

 beetles, billbugs, and bark beetles. Twelve species of Hemiptera are 

 listed, including cicadas, treeboppers, leafhoppers, plant lice, and scale 

 insects. Four species of grasshoppers and crickets are included, as 

 well as the larvae of eight species of Lepidoptera, ants, sawflies, 

 dragonflies, and other flies. Other invertebrates include spiders, 

 centipedes, snails, slugs, and small bivalves. He mentions that a 

 male cardinal was seen eating a field mouse. 



He says that the nestlings of the cardinal are highly insectivorous: 

 "During the preparation of this report 4 have been examined, with the 

 result that 94.75 percent of their food was found to be animal matter 

 and 5.25 vegetable. * * * The proportions of the principal food items 

 of the four nesthngs are as follows: Cicadas, 17.25 percent; grass- 

 hoppers, 20; caterpiUars, 21.25; and beetles, 23.25." 



Among the vegetable food, he includes corn, rice, Kafir corn, oats, 

 and wheat, making up only 8.73 percent of the total food, but much 

 of this is waste grain. 



He lists 33 species of wild fruits, including nearly every kind of 

 tree, shrub, or vine that is available, and 39 species of weed seeds, as 

 found in the stomachs of this grosbeak. But he does not mention 

 any damage to cultivated fruits. 



In his summary, he writes: 



The cardinal has been accused of pilfering certain grains, notably corn, to an 

 injurious extent, which charge the evidence from stomach examination neither 

 proves nor disproves. But in view of the fact that only 8.73 percent of the total 

 food is grain, and that more than half of that amount is waste, the loss is greatly 

 overbalanced by the destruction of weed seeds alone, which compose more than 

 half of the vegetable food. Moreover, some of the weeds consumed are especially 

 destructive to grain crops. 



In securing its insect food the cardinal injures us in 1 case and benefits us in 

 15. In other words, considering animal food alone, only one cardinal does harm 

 to 15 which do good. * * * 



* * * The following list of important pests the bird has been shown to prey upon 

 is in itself sufficient proof of the cardinal's value. The list includes the Rocky 

 Mountain locust, 17-year cicada, potato beetle, cotton worm, bollworm, cotton 

 cutworm, cotton-boll weevil, codhng moth, rose-beetle, cucumber-beetle, fig- 

 eater, zebra caterpillar, plum scale, and other scale insects. 



Rev. J. J. Murray writes to me: "I once noted a pair of cardinals 

 visiting the holes made in a maple tree by sapsuckers. It was early 

 in March, when the sap was running freely. They were drinking 

 greedily." 



Mrs. Laskey says in her notes: "March 12, 1939, I saw cardinals 

 eating elm buds, blossoms, or seeds in the treetops. 



"May 1, 1947, as winged termites emerged from the base of a 

 large silver maple, a male cardinal ate avidly and fed a few to his 

 mate." 



