ne The Food of Birds. 



How indefinite and uncertain is the present knowelge 

 of the food of this especially notorious species, may be 

 seen by comparing my notes with the statement made in 

 the recent and elaborate work of Baird, Brewer and Ridg- 

 way. 



"The food of the catbird is almost exclusively the lar- 

 vae of the larger insects. For these it searches both among 

 the bushes and the fallen leaves, as well as the furrows of 

 newly-plowed fields and cultivated gardens. The benefit 

 it thus confers upon the farmer and upon the horticulturist 

 is very great, and can hardly be overestimated." 



My observations of this bird cover the five months from 

 May to September, inclusive. 



May . 



The specimens of this month range from the 1st to the 

 31st, and from Warsaw and Normal, in central Illinois, 

 to Savanna, McHenry and Waukegan in the northern part 

 of the state. Five of the birds of the month were taken 

 in northern Illinois and seventeen in the central part of 

 the state. All of these birds had eaten insects, which 

 amounted to eighty-three per cent, of the food, the remain- 

 der consisting of spiders, three per cent. ; thousand-legs 

 (Myriapoda), seven per cent. ; and seven per cent, of the 

 dry berries of the sumach {Rhus glabra). Among the in- 

 sects were about equal ratios of ants, crane-flies and beetles, 

 the first composing eighteen per cent, of the food, the second 

 nineteen and the third twenty-three. Caterijillars formed 

 twelve per cent, of the food, and about one-sixth of these 

 were distinctly recognizable as cutworms(Noctuid8e) . More 

 than one-third of the beetles were Oarabidse including 

 specimens of Platynus and Harpalus pennsylvanicus. Only 

 one per cent, of the food consisted of Scarab?eidae, and five 

 per cent, of snout-beetles (Rhyncophora). Nearly all of 

 the latter belonged to the section Brevirostres, in which 

 are found few of the injurious species of the group. Those 

 recognized were Epicoerus imhricatus and Ithycerus nove- 

 horacensis. Among the one per cent, of plant-beetles 

 (Chrysomelida?) only Gastrophysa polygonl was specifically 

 determinable. Minor items among the Ooleoptera are the 



