64 FOOD OF WEST VIRGINIA BIRDS 



that as a fruit destroyer this is our most harmful species. No doubt 

 many insects are destroyed by the Cape Mays. 



Black-throated Green. 



Another species of very general distribution and of considerable im- 

 portance is the Black-throated Green Warbler. The name itself gives a 

 very good description of this bird. It is found in many sections of our 

 State in the summer and almost everywhere during the two migration 

 seasons. This species is most common where evergreen forests abound. 

 As an enemy of forest insects this bird is of real economic worth. It 

 feeds upon small caterpillars, beetles, etc. Last fall it was observed by 

 Mr. A. B. Brooks eating the ripe fruit of Hercules' Club. I have seen 

 it eating the fruit of other wild varieties. 



Myrtle Warbler. 



The Myrtle Warbler may be seen in large numbers during the fall 

 migration, occasionally in the spring as it passes northward, though 

 migrating rather late in the season it lingers only a few days in this 

 latitude, and sometimes in the winter. For several years a few Myrtle 

 Warblers have spent the winter at Weston, depending upon certain wild 

 fruits for food. As soon as these birds appear in the fall they search 

 out places where great quantities of poison ivy vines grow. On the dry 

 grayish-brown fruits of these vines the birds subsist nearly all winter. 

 I have seen them feeding on the fruit of the poison ivy a great number of 

 times, and this fruit seems to be their chief food during the fall migra- 

 tion season and in the winter time. No doubt some other kinds of 

 wild fruit are eaten, though I have no notes to indicate this. It is 

 said that they eat great quantities of bayberries where these grow. 

 Dr. Weed has made a special study of the autumn food of this species. 

 He found that they fed upon caddis flies, various insect larvae, beetles, 

 plant lice and their eggs, house flies and other diptera, and a very few 

 hymenopterous insects. Prof. Forbush has found the Myrtle Warbler 

 feeding upon the woolly apple tree aphis. 



General Notes. 



In this brief chapter it is impossible even to mention all the species 

 in this large family. Only a few have been described. These are among 

 the rvost important species, yet others arfe of economic value, and perhaps 

 the Warblers do far more for the preservation of trees and other valu- 

 able forms of plant life than we commonly think. It is evident that the 

 Black-and-White Warbler eats many insects that feed upon the trees 

 over which these small creeping birds hunt constantly. The great num- 

 ber of species that feed on the ground or near the ground are of much 

 value. Among these are the Kentucky Warbler, the Worm-eating 

 Warbler, the Maryland Yellow-throat, the Water-Thrush and the Louisiana 

 Water-Thrush, the Connecticut Warbler, Mourning Warbler and Oven- 

 bird. Then, too, there are the Chestnut-sided Warbler, the Hooded 

 Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Wilson's Warbler and 



