40 LIFE-HISTORIES OF BIRDS 



a gusto : Fragaria \~irgiuiana, Rubn$ -cillosns* I'm urn; 

 Cerastes, and others. 



For a few weeks after the arrival of this Flycatcher, the 

 following coleoptera constitute an important part of its 

 diet: Elater inqn hiatus, Cr atony chits ci tier ens, C. 

 pcrtinax, Anisodactyhis rusticus^ A. lactnosus* Har pains 

 pcnsyh'anicits, Platyniis cupripennis, Chrysomefa carulci- 

 is, Eumolpuspini, Scaritessubterraneus, Pangus cal- 

 S) Lachnosterna qiiercina, and others. The foregoing 

 l)ill of fare is somewhat varied with a few diptera and hv- 

 menoptera. Traces of Mitsca domestica, Tabauits lineola, 

 T. cinctus, Stomoxys calcitrans* Syrphus obliquus* Formi- 

 ca sanguinea, and F. subterranea^ the last two in great 

 abundance, have been observed in many stomach-examina- 

 tions. From the vast numbers of ground-beetles which 

 have been noticed in the numerous stomachs which we 

 have examined, it is obvious that the species leads almost 

 wholly a terrestrial existence for a week or so after its arri- 

 val. As the season advances, and the higher types of in- 

 sects swarm into existence, it becomes more exclusively- 

 arboreal, and aerial so to speak. \Ve have watched these 

 birds for hours, while perched upon a dead branch of a tree, 

 in the active enjoyment of procuring a full meal. Their 

 movements are perfectly ludicrous. There they sit, bobbing 

 the head this way and then that way, now up and then down, 

 ever on the alert for the caitiffs which form their appropriate 

 diet. Hosts of lepidoptera, both larvae and imagoes, are 

 greedily devoured. The following list constitutes but a very 

 small variety of its voluminous bill of fare : Agrotis tesscl- 

 lata, ITtetheisa bella, Procris Americana, Pier is oleracea, 

 Colias philodice, Zer-ene catcnaria, Anisopteryx vernata, 

 A. ponietaria, Auisota rubicunda, Euuonios snbsigiiaria, 

 Penthina pomonella, Gortyna zea, and many others, be- 

 longing to the families Lyccenidce, Tortricidic, J^octuidtz, 

 and Tincidcc. A few hymenoptera and orthoptera such as 

 Apis meJJijica and Selandria roscc, of the former, and Cat- 



