WAXWINGS 465 



properly a summer resident. Near Bangor they usually arrive 

 about May twenty-third to twenty-eighth and remain until 

 August thirtieth. 



They usually occur in small bands of ten to a dozen, feed- 

 ing on their arrival on the insects which visit the apple, cherry 

 and pear trees to quite an extent. I have often seen the indi- 

 viduals of a flock engaged in pecking at the apple and other 

 fruit tree blossoms in seemingly an aimless way, showers of the 

 ripe petals falling before their onslaught. An examination of 

 individuals taken at such times shows numerous insects of the 

 sorts that visit these blossoms have been eaten, and while occa- 

 sional petals are found in their digestive tract, it is very evi- 

 dent that the insects are the real object of their work. Large 

 numbers of the smaller hymenopterous insects are thus eaten, 

 also dipterous insects, beetles, curculios, small moths and simi- 

 lar insects. 



This habit of the Cherry Bird may therefore be cited as very 

 beneficial. A very little later they eat hundreds of canker 

 worms, tent caterpillars, and other injurious larvae found on 

 the foliage of the orchard trees. If a stray moth or butterfly 

 passes they very frequently give chase and take it on the wing, 

 in fact it is a regular habit of the species to take its prey "Fly- 

 catcher-like." In later summer the cherry crop is attended to 

 by them, and though quite a havoc is made with the cultivated 

 crop in some localities, the various wild cherries seem to be 

 more relished, and the fruit of the shad-bush comes in for 

 their attention. Rarely, cultivated strawberries, raspberries^ 

 blackberries and similar small fruits and berries are eaten but 

 they prefer the wild varieties if accessible. 



All through the year insects form a large part of their diet, 

 and the good they do in destroying such things as the canker 

 worm, tent worm and similar pests pays many times over for 

 the little cultivated fruit they eat. This is one of the very few 

 birds that I have known to eat the Colorado potato beetle and 

 its larvae and even feeding the young on the fat red slugs. I 



