120 BIRDS IN THEIR RELATIONS TO MAN. 



fifteen caterpillars ; five other larvae ; eight beetles, among 

 them five weevils and one long-horn ; seventy heteropterous 

 insects, among them sixty-seven chinch-bugs ; sixteen winged 

 ants ; one ichneumon (?) ; five dragon-flies ; two dipterous 

 insects, one of them a large horse-fly (Tabanus atratus) ; three 

 small moths ; two grasshoppers ; one aphis ; one chrysalid ; 

 two spiders ; and seven dogwood-berries. Of thirty-six other 

 specimens examined, fifteen had eaten caterpillars ; two, 

 other larvae ; nine, beetles, among them two lady-bird beetles ; 

 three, grasshoppers ; two, ants ; two, moths ; four, unidentified 

 insects ; and seven, fruits or seeds, among which were rasp- 

 berries, dogwood-berries, berries of prickly ash, and sheep- 

 berries." During locust outbreaks in Nebraska four-fifths 

 of the food of this vireo has been found to consist of these 

 insects. Of his studies of the food of the young of this 

 species, Professor Herrick writes : ' Grasshoppers, katydids, 

 green larvae, beetles, and bugs of many kinds were served 

 again and again ; but it would be a mistake to suppose that 

 there was no fruit to vary this diet. Upon the third day the 

 mother brought a ripe red raspberry, its juice fairly stream- 

 ing down her bill, and after a few beetles had been taken she 

 appeared with a large blackberry. Fruit was served to the 

 young about half a dozen times in the course of four hours 

 during which watch was kept on this particular day, but I 

 had not seen a single berry brought to the young before this 

 time." Professor Beal found that nestlings three days old 

 had been fed with spiders, sphinx caterpillars, butterflies, 

 assassin-bugs, and tree-hoppers. 



The WARBLLXG VIREO frequents cultivated fields, orchards, 

 and the vicinity of houses, as well as the wilder woodlands. 

 It is an abundant species in most States and is highly insec- 

 tivorous. Its food consists chiefly of caterpillars, including 

 such destructive species as the canker-worm, beetles of 

 various kinds, among them the twelve-spotted cucumber- 

 beetle and occasionally a lady-bird, crane-flies and other 



