280 The Catbird 



As a matter of fact, however, fruit does not constitute a very large pro- 

 portion of the Catbird's yearly food. The reports of the Department of 

 Agriculture show that 44 per cent, of its food consists of insects, and 

 three-fourths of this are made up of ants, beetles, caterpillars, and grass- 

 hoppers. Of the 56 per cent, of vegetable food, only one-third consists 

 of strawberries, raspberries and blackberries, and many of these are the 

 wild varieties. The other two-thirds are made up of berries of the dog- 

 wood, wild cherry, sour gum, elder, greenbrier, spicewood, black alder, 

 sumac, and poison ivy plants of the shady swamps and fence-rows 

 where the Catbird so frequently makes his home. 



We see, therefore, that the Catbird is of enormous value to the farmer 

 as an insect-destroyer, while the charges against him as 



ThC Friend Der ' S a fruit - thief dwindle in the light of scientific investiga- 

 tion, and can be largely dismissed by a little care in pro- 

 viding some of his favorite wild food. To quote Doctor Judd : 



"By killing the birds, their services as insect-destroyers would be lost 

 forever, so the problem for us is to keep both th2 bird and the fruit. 

 We need have no hesitancy in placing the Catbird fairly in the class of 

 beneficial birds. When we see him searching about the ground in his 

 favorite thicket, we know that he is seeking out the many harmful insects 

 that lurk there, and we need not begrudge him an occasional berry from 

 the garden; since, if he should become a nuisance, weknow how to-draw 

 him away from mischief. Considering the amount of food that a farmer 

 provides for his crops in the form of fertilizer and manure, it seems 

 strange if a little food cannot be provided for the birds, without whose 

 constant guardianship crops of all kinds would be utterly wiped out 

 by the insect-hordes." 



Classification and Distribution 



The Catbird belongs to the Order Passeres, and the Family Mimida. Its 

 scientific name is Dumetella carolinensis. It is found in summer from the southern 

 Provinces of Canada southward to northeastern Oregon, northern Utah, eastern 

 Texas and northern Florida ; and it winters from the Southern States southward to 

 Cuba and Panama. 



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