98 The Food of Birds. 



The caterpillars were partly cutworms, about one-third of 

 them being recognized as the "speckled cutworm" {Ma- 

 mestra siihjuncta., G. &R.), a species supposed to be injuri- 

 ous to cabbages.* Ooleoptera occurred in the stomachs of 

 these birds only in small numbers, comprising about four 

 per cent, of the food. Half of these were Carabid^e, eaten 

 by six of the eleven birds, a fourth were scavenger beetles 

 {Apkodlus inqiiinatus) and a fourth were larvae of Lam- 

 pyridae, including one of Ohauliognathus. A few fragments 

 of curculios were also found. 



Grasshoppers were present in about the same quantity 

 as beetles, but only two birds had eaten them. One had ta- 

 ken Tragocephala infuscata and another a Tettigidea. 



The Hemiptera (one per cent.) were chiefly soldier-bugs 

 (Pentatomidae), eaten by five of the birds. The spiders 

 had been taken by two birds, and one had eaten a small 

 thousand-legs (lulus). 



The striking feature of the month is the great predom- 

 inance of the larva of Bibio in the food, a fact which will 

 seem of small or great importance according to our views 

 of the habits of this larva. By Dr. Fitch, former state 

 entomologist of New York, as quoted by Prof Jenks,f 

 it was believed to be especially injurious to grass lands, 

 and the robin was therefore credited with an indispen- 

 sable service to the farmer. Dr. Fitch gave no actual ob- 

 servations, however, and his opinion was apparently spec- 

 ulative. Mr. WalshJ and Prof. Riley have since reported 

 that the larva feeds only on decaying vegetation and is 

 therefore harmless, if not indeed useful. Prof. Riley has, 

 in fact, reared it in rotten leaves where no living vegeta- 

 tion was accessible. Finding the robin feeding on it so 

 excessively in spring, I took some specimens from among 

 the roots of grass and weeds in a raspberry garden and oth- 

 ers from the stomach of a robin, examined the contents of 

 the intestine with a microscope, and mounted the material 



*Prof. Riley, by whom my specimens were determined, says that he 

 reared the larva on cabbage, which it ate voraciously. 



tjournal of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Boston, March, 

 1859, p. 152. 



JThe Practical Entomologist, Vol. 2, No. 4, p. 45, January, 1867. 



