54 SEVENTH REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



few snails, all the animal food consists of insects, mainly beetles — and all but one 

 more or less noxious, the famous elm-leaf beetle being among the number. Bark or 

 scale lice were found in several stomachs, while the remainder of the animal food 

 was made up of grasshoppers, bugs and the like. Three nestlings were found to 

 have been fed almost entirely on insects. 



" Of the 87 per cent of vegetable food, 74 consisted entirely of wild fruit or 

 seeds and 13 of cultivated fruit, but a large part of the latter was made up of black- 

 berries and raspberries, and it is very doubtful whether they represent cultivated 

 varieties. Cherry stealing is the chief complaint against this bird, but of the 152 

 stomachs only 9, all taken in June and July, contained any remains of cultivated 

 cherries, and these aggregate but 5 per cent of the year's food. As 41 stomachs 

 were collected in those months, it is evident that the birds do not live to any great 

 extent on cultivated cherries." (Beal.) 



" The Cedar Bird eats caterpillars, spiders, and grasshoppers, but does most good 

 in destroying the elm-leaf beetle that strips our village and city trees of leaves. 

 Mrs. Mary Treat writes of one town in which elms had been ruined for several years 

 before the Cedar Birds came and which were afterward comparatively free from 

 beetles. From one calculation, it is shown that 30 Cedar Birds would destroy 9,000 

 worms during the month when the cutworm caterpillar is exposed." (Bailey.) 



SHRIKES. Family Laniidae. 



Two species of this family are found in New York. One, the Northern Shrike 

 or Butcherbird, comes in late fall and passes the winter when it feeds largely on 

 small birds. The other, the Loggerhead, comes in the summer and appears to be 

 gradually increasing. It feeds largely on grasshoppers and should be protected. 



Butcherbird: Great Northern Shrike {Lanius borealis). — The Northern Shrike 

 is a predaceous species, preying on insects, meadow mice, and birds. While with us 

 it feeds largely on the two latter, Dr. Judd reporting that during December, Janu- 

 ary, and February, 55 per cent of its food is birds, while 22 per cent is mammals. In 

 New York State, therefore, it cannot be considered, on the whole, a beneficial 

 species. 



Loggerhead Shrike {Lanius ludovicianus). — The Loggerhead is with us during 

 the summer when its food consists largely of grasshoppers. Dr. Judd remarks that 

 the Loggerhead's beneficial qualities outweigh 4 to 1 its injurious ones. 



