SCARLET TANAGER 485 



destroying those concealed insects which so well escape all but the sharpest eyes. 

 Nocturnal moths, such as the Catocalas, which remain motionless on the tree 

 trunks by day, almost invisible because of their protective coloring, are captured 

 by the Tanager. Even the largest moths, like cecropia and luna, are killed and 

 eaten by this indefatigable insect hunter. * * * I once saw a male Tanager 

 swallow what appeared to be a hellgramite or dobson {Corydalis cornula) head 

 first and apparently entire, though not without much effort. * * * As a cater- 

 pillar hunter the bird has few superiors. It is often very destructive to the 

 gipsy moth, taking all stages but the eggs, and undoubtedly will prove equally 

 useful against the brown-tail moth. Leaf-rolling caterpillars it skillfully takes 

 from the rolled leaves, and it also digs out the larvae of gall insects from their 

 hiding places. Many other injurious larvae are taken. Wood-boring beetles, 

 bark-boring beetles, and weevils form a considerable portion of its food during 

 the months when these insects can be found. Click beetles, leaf-eating beetles, 

 and crane flies are greedily eaten. These beneficial habits are not only of service 

 in woodlands, but they are exercised in orchards, which are often frequented by 

 Tanagers. Nor is this bird confined to trees, for during the cooler weather of 

 early spring it goes to the ground, and on plowed lands follows the plow like the 

 Blackbird or Robin, picking up earthworms, grubs, ants, and ground beetles. 

 Grasshoppers, locusts, and a few bugs are taken, largely from the ground, grass, 

 or shrubbery. 



Forbush enlarges on the value of the tanager to apple orchards, 

 saying: "Two Scarlet Tanagers were seen eating very small caterpillars 

 of the gipsy moth for eighteen minutes, at the rate of thirty-five a 

 minute. These birds spent much time in that way. If we assume 

 that they ate caterpillars at this rate for only an hour each day, they 

 must have consumed daily twenty-one hundred caterpillars, or 

 fourteen thousand seven hundred in a week. Such a number of 

 caterpillars would be sufficient to defoliate two average apple trees, 

 and so prevent fruitage. The removal of these caterpillars might 

 enable the trees to bear a full crop." 



Waldo L. McAtee (1926) does not give unqualified praise to the 

 tanager's feeding habits: "In its choice of animal food the Scarlet 

 Tanager must be criticized for preying more extensively upon useful 

 Hymenoptera than upon any other group of insects. We do not 

 imagine that the bird makes a special search for these insects, but 

 believe that it merely happens to encounter them frequently in the 

 particular places where it habitually feeds. After Hymenoptera the 

 important insect groups on the Tanager's bill-of-fare are beetles, 

 lepidoptera, and bugs. * * * 



"While the Scarlet Tanager feeds on the useful parasitic wasps and 

 their allies to a greater extent than would seem desirable, it does 

 enough good so that judgment from an economic point of view must 

 be rendered in its favor." 



McAtee, summarizing, says: "One-eighth of the food of this species 

 is derived from the plant, and seven-eighths from the animal world. 

 Wild fruits are the chief vegetable food, those of juneberry, buckle- 



