THE THRUSHES AND THEIR ALLIES. 103 



The nestlings of this species are fed upon spiders and 

 insects, especially the various grasshoppers and caterpillars. 



The famous Mocking-bird, whose music is to Americans 

 much what that of the nightingale is to Europeans, is com- 

 monly found in the Southern States. As a rule, it is rare 

 north of latitude 40. Its food appears to be much like that of 

 the other thrushes, consisting of about equal proportions of 

 insects and various wild and cultivated fruits. The young 

 appear to be fed chiefly upon insects, among which the moth 

 of the cotton-boll-worm deserves special mention. 



In the North the Wood-Thrush is the most famous songster 

 of its family. It is common, but not abundant, in most of the 

 Eastern States, north to New England. It is usually a shy bird, 

 haunting woodland shrubbery, but there are indications that 

 it is becoming more familiar with man, and there seems good 

 reason for hoping that in time it will be much more com- 

 monly seen upon the home grounds. Professor Forbes's 

 studies of the food of twenty-two Illinois birds show that it is 

 one of the most useful of the thrushes, eating large numbers 

 of injurious insects and comparatively little fruit. One speci- 

 men had stuffed itself with rose-beetles [Macrodaetylus sub- 

 spinosus) and others had eaten large numbers of ants and 

 crane-flies. Insects as a whole formed seventy-one per cent, 

 of the food. Of course every one is eager to encourage the 

 advances of this beautiful songster. 



The economic relations of the other thrushes — such as the 

 Hermit, Alice, or Swainson's — appear to be very similar to 

 those of the wood-thrush. The hermit is credited — or rather 

 debited — with the destruction of many predaceous beetles 

 during its northward migration, and the other two species 

 mentioned are unusually fond of ants and caterpillars. 



In summarizing the food of the family of thrushes as it 

 occurs in Illinois, Professor Forbes says : " Sixty-one per 

 cent, of the food consists of insects, one per cent, of spiders, 

 two per cent, of Myriapods, and thirty-two per cent, of fruits, 



