234 



USEFUL BIRDS. 



Fig. 94. — Mcitli of tlie spring' cankerworm; ((, 

 male; h, female; c, d, e, structural details. 



Aviry note of each i)hra.se longest, and heavily accented ; the 

 last short, and with a falling inflection. In the early spring 

 this bird occasionally fiutters about in a circle or rises high 

 in air, repeating its notes very rapidly, with variations, as 

 if attem})ting a flight-song. The Phcebe, like the Wood 



Pewee, is able, because 

 of some peculiarity of 

 its sight, to pursue and 

 catch insects in the dusk 

 of luorninof or evenins^. 

 Its note is among the 

 first to be heard on a 

 summer's morning, and 

 may even mingle with the last notes of the Owl or those of 

 the Whip-poor-wnll. I have heard it shortly after 3.30 a.m. 

 This characteristic makes the Pha'be extremely useful, as it 

 is thus able to catch such nocturnal moths and other insects 

 as ordinarily remain hidden in daylight, and seldom venture 

 to fly except in dusk or darkness. It feeds 

 on a variety of pests. Among them are the 

 im})()rted elm-leaf beetle, the striped cucum- 

 ber beetle, the cankerworm moth, the cut- 

 worm moths, the brown-tail and the gipsy 

 moths. 



Professor Beal, who has examined a large 

 number of Phcebes' stomachs, finds the bird 

 to be almost exclusively insectivorous. The insects eaten 



belong mainly to noxious species 

 of beetles, including May beetles, 

 click beetles, and weevils, grass- 

 hoppers, wasps, and many of the 

 flies that trouble cattle. The 

 vegetable food is unimportant, 

 consisting mainly of a few seeds, 

 wild cherries, elderberries, and 

 junii)er l)crries. Now and then a raspberry or blackberry 

 is taken. In the spring of 18(58 Mr. C. J. Maynard found 

 that some of these birds had their stomachs filled with haw- 

 thorn berries. Gentry says that they feed on horseflies, 



Fig. 05. — Wood- 

 bo r i n g click 

 beetle, enlarged. 



Fig. 96.— I'.rdwn-tail moth. 



