4QO General Notes. \j^^. 



\ 



From an examination of the grapes preserved, as well as from the inves- 

 tigation of the stomach contents, it was seen that no pulp nor seeds were 

 taken. The grapes show simple openings made bj the thrusts, or larger 

 rents due to the drying in consequence of the original wounds. No seeds 

 were disturbed and the pulp had dried down around them in a hard mass. 

 Thus it is shown that grapes cannot be included in the food oi the Cape 

 May or Tennessee Warblers. 



Some of the openings, triangular in shape, have a strip of grape-skin 

 extending across near the base, showing that the bird thrust its open 

 beak into the fruit, probably in an effort to quench an impelling thirst. 

 In the present instance, thirst seems plainly to be the motive for attack. 

 This might be averted entirely by the presence of a bountiful supply of 

 water. 



In the arbor under observation, which was a small one, scarcely a 

 grape and not a cluster was missed. The damage, however, was incon- 

 siderable as the birds did not commence to use their appropriated share 

 of the crop until the owner had taken all he desired. However, they 

 might not be thus considerate at all times, but the chances are that in the 

 majority of cases the injury, on account of the late time at which it is 

 done, would be very small. 



Prof. King found plant-lice and small heteropterous insects in stomachs 

 of the Tennessee Warbler, and Prof. B. H. Warren reports the food of 

 the Cape May to be larvse, flies, plant-lice and small beetles. 



The results of the investigation of the stomach contents of birds 

 taken at the time of the observations noted above, follow : Cape May 

 Warbler (one specimen), 8 Tyflocyba comes, an especial pest of the 

 grape, "an exceedingly abundant and destructive " jassid ; 3 Aphodius 

 inqiiinatus and one Carabid, kinds which may be considered neutral eco- 

 nomically, but, in case of a departure from their ordinary diet, would on 

 account of vegetarian tendencies become injurious ; i Drasterias sp. 

 (click-beetle), i tortoise-beetle, i flea-beetle {Haltica chafybea), all 

 injurious beetles, the last of which is a particular enemy of the grape, 

 which "appears on the vine in early spring and bores into and scoops 

 out the unopened buds, sometimes so completely as to kill the vine to the 

 roots," and later in the season in both larval and adult stages feeds upon 

 the foliage, and if abundant "leaves little but the larger veins"; i Notoxus 

 sp., a weevil, with all the undesirability characteristic of the creatures 

 bearing that name ; 2 ants, harmful, if for no other reason than harboring 

 plant lice; and a vespoidean hymenapteron (wasp) of neutral signifi- 

 cance. 



Tennessee Warbler (one specimen), Typhlocyba comes (i) again, and 

 another jassid or leaf hopper; 6 caterpillars which were doing all in 

 their power to eat up the leaves remaining on the vines ; 2 Lycosidae 

 (spiders) ; a bug {Coyizus), another weevil, and one parasitic hymenop- 

 teron. 



This last item is the only portion of the food of these two individuals 



