99 



"The bird, which is a beautiful male, was taken by a young man 

 named Crowell, near his home, about two and one-half miles southwest 

 of this place. He reported that there were two. He heard the bird cooing 

 and shot it and brought it to me, having concluded that it was something 

 new. You can imagine how we almost toolc it away from him when he 

 unrolled it out of a bloody old newspaper and began to inquire if we knew 

 what it was. I was convinced that I saw a floclc of five Passenger Pigeons 

 one day in the spring of 1901, but had never said much about it as I only 

 saw them flying and at a distance and it seemed rather improbable. I 

 used to see them occasionally in Iowa about 1882-3, and although I was 

 then very small, the specimen was not new to me, and I, of course, at 

 once recognized the same." 



Mr. Muchmore in a recent letter says he heard of a small flock near 

 Laurel last fall (1902). 



The Catalpa Sphixx (Ceratomia Catalp.e) Destroyed by the 



Yellow-Billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus Americanus) 



IN SoFTiiERN Indiana. 



F. M. Webster. 



This paper was suggested by the receipt of a letter from Mr. A. W. 

 Butler, calling attention to a statement made by Mr. John B. Elliott, a 

 very observing farmer of New Harmony. Indiana, who stated that the 

 catalpa trees in his neighborhood had. until recently, been defoliated by 

 a large worm, but, recently, this worm had nearly disappeared, having 

 been eaten by the Cuckoo or Rain Crow, as they are termed in the South. 



There did not appear to be any doubt about the food habit of the bird, 

 though there is but one other similar observation on record, the only 

 question being as to the identity of the worms. Now, the catalpa, like 

 the ailanthus, and the China ti-ee of the Gulf States, has very few ene- 

 mies, and there is no chance of mistaking the larvfe of the catalpa sphinx 

 for any other insect. On the other hand, there is no data whatever in 

 possession of the division of Biological Survey of the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture, showing that this bird ever attacks the catalpa 

 sphinx, though the stomachs of ninety birds have been examined. Several 

 other species of Sphingidre do not fare so well. Two, Dcilephila lineaf^ 



