72 Bugs, Butterflies, and Beetles 



At this stage of their growth I have often 

 seen them in the beaks of scarlet tanagers (Fig. 

 70), which fact tells us that the scarlet tanager is 

 one of the agents whose duty it is to keep these 

 caterpillars in subjection. The usually brilliant 

 red bird at this season of the year is moulting, but 

 that does not interfere with its appetite. The 

 bird's plumage has a moth-eaten appearance and 

 some may think that its appetite is as disreputable 



as its plumage. I have seen tanagers seize the 

 great fleshy caterpillars of the Luna miller, pinch 

 and squeeze them with their bills, maul them on 

 the limb of a tree, until the whole inside was re- 

 duced to a jelly-like liquid. Then the bird would 

 insert its bill into the body of the larva and drink 

 the contents with the same symptoms of delight 

 that a boy shows when sucking an orange. 



The Luna is a beautiful, graceful, and artistic 

 moth. The scarlet tanager is one of the hand- 

 somest, if not the most beautiful, of our northern 



