The Catbird 123 



thirteen of their stomachs, says forty-four per cent, of their 

 food consisted of animal matter, and fifty-six per cent, of vege- 

 table matter. Ants, beetles, caterpillars and grasshoppers con- 

 stituted three-fourths of the animal food, the remainder being 

 made up of bugs, miscellaneous insects and spiders. One- 

 third of the vegetable food consisted of such fruits as are cul- 

 tivated, and the rest was mostly of wild fruits, including cher- 

 ries, dogwood, sour gum, elderberries, greenbrier, spice ber- 

 ries, black alder, sumac and poison ivy. In his report he says : 

 "By killing the birds their services as insect destroyers would 

 be lost, so the problem is to keep both the birds- and the fruit. 

 Experiments conducted by this division show that catbirds 

 prefer mulberries to strawberries and cherries, hence it may 

 be inferred that these two latter crops may be protectd by 

 planting the prolific Russian mulberry, which, if planted in 

 hen yards or pig runs will afford excellent food for the hens 

 and pigs, besides attracting the birds away from more valuable 

 fruit. Wild cherry, buckthorns, dogwood, wild grapes and el- 

 der should be encouraged by the farmer who wishes to escape 

 the depredations of the birds and still receive their benefits." 

 This is just what we are doing at Buzzard's Roost, and in so 

 doing are hoping that what Dr. Judd advocates is the true 

 solution of the much discussed subject. 



