RED-EYED VIREO 339 



and crissum with primrose-yellow. Superciliary stripe dull white; 

 lores and postocular streak dusky. Iris walnut-brown." 



The first winter plumage is acquired by a partial postjuvenal molt 

 in August and September "which involves the body plumage, the wing 

 coverts (often the tertiaries) but not the rest of the wings nor the 

 tail. * * * In plumage young and old are practically indistin- 

 guishable in the autumn, but the iris of young birds is brown while 

 they remain with us. * * * The iris becomes dull red before the 

 birds return in the spring." 



The nuptial plumage is apparently acquired by wear, with very 

 little fading apparent. A complete postnuptial molt for birds of all 

 ages occurs in August and September.] 



Food. — Waldo L. McAtee (192G) speaks well of the redeye as a 

 destroyer of harmful insects, saying : 



About six-sevenths of the total food of the Red-eye is composed of animal 

 matter, almost exclusively insects, and one-seventh is vegetable. The latter is 

 made up almost entirely of vpild fruits which are eaten chiefly in the months 

 from August to October. The favorite kinds are blackberries, elderberries, and 

 fruits of spicebush, dogwood, Virginia creeper, and sassafras. 



A third of the total food of this vireo is composed of caterpillars and moths, 

 mainly the former. Tent catorpillnrs, a beech caterpillar {Fentonia nMrihesia) , 

 the hackberry caterpillar {Chorippe celtis), and various oak caterpillars (Ac- 

 romjcta afflicta, Apatcla, Notodonta, and Anisota) are among the injurious forms 

 devoured. Mr. Forbush reports the Red-eye to be one of the most effective 

 enemies of the gipsy and browntail moths ('07, p. 205), and Dr. Tothill credits 

 the species with destroying in various years, from 11.4 to 89.5 per cent of the 

 broods of fall webworms in Nova Scotia ('22, pp. 5-26) . 



Beetles, hymenoptera, bugs, and flies rank next to lepidoptera in importance 

 as food items of the Red-eye. The beetles include a considerable number of 

 forms injurious to trees. 



Then follows a list of 43 species. He continues : 



Other insects, more or less prejudicial to the welfare of the forest which the 

 Red-eyed Vireo includes in its bill-of-fare are the walking-sticks, cicadas, spittle 

 insects, tree hoppers, leaf hoppers, scale insects, sawflies, and carpenter and 

 other ants. 



While we are reciting the good record of this bird we may as well add the 

 names of a few agricultural pests : the striped and spotted cuciimber beetles 

 (Diahrotica vittata, and D. 12-punctata) , the click beetles (adults of wireworms) , 

 the clover-root weevil (Sitona hispidula) , the clover leaf weevil (nypera punc- 

 tata), and the plum curculio ( Conotrachelus nenuphar) . 



The only harm done by the Red-eye is the destruction of certain useful para- 

 sitic and predatory insects, but in view of the splendid record of the bird in feed- 

 ing on injurious forms, this may well be overlooked. We may be sure that in its 

 industrious scanning of our woodland trees, the Red-eyed Vireo is ever on the 

 alert to snap up the insects infesting them, by far the most of which are not 

 there for the good of the trees. 



To this long list T. C. Stephens (1917) adds other items. He says: 



One of the most interesting facts obtained in the study of these Vireos was that 

 land snails formed a considerable portion of the nestling diet. In the food 



