The Foo<l of Birds. 121 



twelve per cent., one-third of which are Carabidae. The 

 scavenger beetles and leaf-chafers are three per cent, of 

 the food; plant-beetles, one per cent., and snout-beetles, 

 belonging cliieli}" to the leaf-eating Brevirostres, likewise 

 one per cent. Two parts of Hemiptera and three of Orthop- 

 tera are the only other items that we need notice. It will 

 be seen that ants and beetles occur in about equal ratios, 

 and that these are the most important insect elements in 

 the food. Diptera and Lepidoptera taken together about 

 equal one of the former elements. 



Bee ap i t u I a t i o n . 



In the catbird as in the robin the insect averages are 

 highest in the early months, and fall rapidly away from 

 May to July, — rising again in August and declining in Sep- 

 tember. The ratios of insects taken for the five months 

 covered by this table are as follows : — 83, 49, 18, 46, 21. 

 The same double curve is especially apparent in the aver- 

 ages of ants, the corresponding ratios for wliich are 18, 11, 

 2, 20, 9. Beetles gradually diminish to Julj^ and then re- 

 main tolerably constant for the season. The predaceous 

 ground-beetles maintain themselves at nearly uniform 

 figures throughout. The Scarabctidae are, of course, most 

 abundant in May and June, when the leaf-chafers are 

 abroad. The snout-beetles observed were all taken in the 

 months of May and June, and belonged chiefly to species 

 whose injuries are confined to the leaves of trees. Only 

 trifling ratios of plant-beetles were eaten by these birds. 

 Hemiptera also occur in insignificant quantity, the only 

 notable fact being the presence of chinch-bugs in the food 

 of one bird. Orthoptera seemed to be most abundant in 

 the late and early months, diminishing in June and July. 

 Considerable numbers of Arachnida and Myriapoda are 

 eaten by the catbird, — a point in which it contrasts notably 

 with the robin. No earthworms were detected in the 

 food. With respect to the fruits taken by this bird, we 

 find that the general ratios for the corresponding months 

 agree closely with those of the robin. Berries of the su- 

 mach are eaten in May, but raspberries and blackberries 

 are the most prominent elements of June, July and August. 



