SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 181 



woodland, cornfield, and garden. Dr. Judd gives a sum- 

 mary of the results of an examination of the stomachs of one 

 hundred and twenty-one of this species ; thiily-six per cent, 

 of the food was vegetable, and sixty-four per cent, was ani- 

 mal, which was practically all insects, mosth^ taken in spring, 

 when no fruit was ripe. Half the insects were beetles, 

 mainly harmful species. The remaining animal food was 

 chiefly grasshoppers, caterpillars, bugs, and spiders. 



The Brown Thrasher more than repays us for the cultivated 

 fruit that it eats by the number of insect pests that it con- 

 sumes earlier in the season. AV^hile it eats considerable wild 

 fruit and some that is useful to man, it prol)ably pays for 

 this by destroying many of the disgusting bugs that eat 

 berries. As the Thrasher feeds much on the grtnmd, it 

 destroys many grasshoppers, crickets, white grubs, and May 

 beetles. Professor Forbes states that in Illinois nearly half 

 the food of this bird consists of waste grain picked from 

 the droppings on the roads. He also asserts that it eats 

 cultivated fruit in less proportion than do other Thrushes. 

 There, as here, June beetles form a considerable percent, of 

 its food, and it eats 1)oth snap beetles and curculios. The 

 Thrasher eats caterpillars, but mainl}^ such species as are 

 found on the ground. It picks up cutworms, cankerworms, 

 and some gipsy moth caterpillars, but is not usually fond of 

 hairy caterpillars. On the whole, it is a bird that should be 

 protected by the farmer. 



Catbird. 



Dunielella carolinensis. 



Length. — About nine inches. 



Adult. — Both upper and under parts dark gray; top of head and tail blackish; 



under tail coverts chestnut. 

 Nest. — Comjjosed of sticks and twigs, bark and rootlets, placed in a bush or 



vine. 

 Eggs. — Dark, glossy, greenish-blue. 

 Season. — May to October. 



The Catbird is very common in this State. Its voluble 

 manner, cat-like cry, musical song, habits of mimicry, and 

 bravery in defence of its young are all too well known 

 to need description. As an imitator, it is second only to 

 the Mockingbird. I have heard the cry of the Bob-white or 



