334 BULLETIN 195, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



motion is much like a sidewise rooting, but sometimes I have seen 

 clearly that the leaf was picked up in the bill and thrown very quickly 

 to one side or the other or behind. A leaf will often go a foot or a 

 foot and a half, and sometimes one will drop on the bird's tail." 



Various observers have reported the catbird's fondness for such 

 food as cheese, bread, raisins, currants, milk, corn flakes and puffed 

 wheat soaked in milk, mushrooms, garbage, boiled potato, fried fish, 

 beef stew, peanuts, and beef soup. E. G. Holt and G. M. Sutton 

 ( 1926) report that a catbird ate bits of meat of skinned specimens that 

 they were preparing at Gator Lake, Fla. Indeed the food eaten is 

 so diversified in nature that the catbird can be considered omnivorous 

 in its food habits. Few birds are more adaptable in eating any 

 kind of food that chances to be readily accessible. 



Perhaps the most useful eating trait of the catbird in its rela- 

 tion to man's interest is its frequent concentration on certain de- 

 structive insects that become abundant during severe infestations. 

 It is at such times that the catbird arises to the situation and renders 

 great service in keeping the ravages of the pests in check. S. A. 

 Forbes (1883) has vividly described the important action of cat- 

 birds on the orchard infestations of cankerworms in Illinois. W. L. 

 McAtee (1920) tells how the periodic abundance of cicadas almost 

 entirely diverted the attacks of catbirds from cultivated fruits. 

 Phoebe Knappen (1933) reports that catbirds which discovered a 

 sawfly infestation of an ash tree fed on the larvae exclusively as 

 long as the insects were in evidence. During the great plague of 

 army worms in New Jersey, New York, and New England States of 

 the summer of 1914 there were many reports of catbirds as well as 

 other birds, which fed ravenously on these pests. Edward A. Gill 

 Wylie (1914) wrote: "The present plague of army worms, * * * 

 provides a severe example to us of one of the many reasons why the 

 number of insectivorous birds should not only be conserve^ but 

 materially increased. A horde of these pests suddenly came to light 

 on a small place about 4 acres large. * * * Immediately the 

 birds of the neighborhood deserted their usual haunts and assembled 

 on these four acres. They ate so many [of the armyworms] that 

 often a bird would disgorge and proceed to make a fresh start, 

 * * * at least one-half of the worms were consumed by them 

 (catbirds and others) in the 2 days that elapsed before the spraying 

 by experts commenced to destroy what was left." E. H. Eaton 

 (1914) writes of a plague of cankerworms in the orchards of Monroe 

 County, N. Y., in 1898. The orchards were practically denuded 

 by the worms. He observed the catbirds and other birds swallowing 

 the larvae at the rate of 15 to 40 a minute. 



Food of the young: S. D. Judd (1900) examined the stomach 

 contents of 14 young nestlings of the catbird and 11 adults mainly 



