98 BIRDS IN THEIR RELATIONS TO MAN. 



THE CAT-BIRD. 



While the cat-bird in most localities is much less abundant 

 than the robin, it is almost as well known. It is a shyer 

 species, commonly haunting shrubbery and underbrush in 

 clearings and along running streams. It is a migrant and 

 rarely winters very far north. The food of seventy Illinois 

 specimens, shot during May, June, July, August, and Septem- 

 ber, was studied by Professor Forbes. Insects formed eighty- 

 three per cent, of the food of twenty-two May examples : 

 the remainder consisted of spiders, rnyriapods, and sumach- 

 berries. u Among the insects 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. 

 Caterpillars formed twelve per cent, of the food, and about 

 one-sixth of these were distinctly recognizable as cutworms. 

 More than one-third of the beetles were Carabidae, including 

 specimens of Platynus and Harpalus pennsylvanicus." Four 

 per cent, of Orthoptera were present, there being specimens 

 of the snowy tree-cricket, grasshoppers, and young walking- 

 sticks. " During the first part of June large numbers of ants 

 and crane-flies were again eaten. Many May-beetles were 

 also taken. During the last half of the month these insects 

 were largely replaced by cherries, currants, raspberries, and 

 strawberries." Three-fourths of the food of eleven July cat- 

 birds consisted of small fruits, mostly (sixty-four per cent.) 

 blackberries. Nine per cent, of beetles had been taken, most 

 of them being predaceous. " It is clear that the cat-bird in 

 midsummer eats only such insects as come in its way while 

 regaling itself on the smaller fruits." 



44 The food-record of August resembles that of June, owing 

 doubtless to the diminution of the smaller garden fruits at 

 this time and to the fact that the wild fruits have not yet 

 come into bearing. The insect percentages are therefore 

 much larger than in July, and it is instructive to notice that 



