THE WARBLERS AND THE VIREOS. 117 



consumes may be obtained from the statement that the 

 stomachs of five birds taken in Nebraska during June con- 

 tained one hundred and sixteen small locusts and one hun- 

 dred and four other insects, an average of forty-four to each 

 bird. Seventy per cent, of the food of one Illinois specimen 

 consisted of canker-worms. 



The beautiful American Redstart is a much commoner 

 species in most of the Northern States than would be sup- 

 posed by those who have paid no special attention to the 

 study of birds. Living amidst the foliage of trees, it is seldom 

 seen except by those looking for the warblers found in such 

 situations. The redstart is "the flycatcher of the inner tree- 

 tops, 1 ' capturing on the wing the numerous insects that flit 

 about among the branches and occasionally taking a cater- 

 pillar hanging by a thread or crawling on a twig. The food 

 of the few specimens that have been critically examined con- 

 sisted of small two-winged flies, a few parasitic Hymenoptera, 

 an occasional small bug, and some minute larva?. Seven 

 Nebraska specimens had eaten one hundred and sixty-one 

 small locusts and one hundred and seventeen other insects. 

 The young are fed with moths and other insects caught when 

 upon the wing. 



The handsome little Maryland Yellow-throat, in its typical 

 form or that of a subspecies, is found throughout the United 

 States, from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans, and in many 

 localities is one of the most abundant of the warblers. It 

 especially frequents the shrubbery about standing or running 

 water, where it can be found throughout the summer busily 

 searching for insect food. It often visits orchards, where 

 canker-worms and other caterpillars are greedily devoured, 

 these forming in three cases on record four-fifths of its food. 

 The little case-bearing caterpillars of the genus Coleophora and 

 its allies are often eaten, while butterflies, moths, two- winged 

 flies, beetles, grasshoppers, leaf-hoppers, bugs, dragon-flies, 

 Hymenoptera, and insects' eggs are all included on the bill of 



