286 ENTOMOLOGY 



the first half of June, the record is much the same, with an in- 

 crease, however, in -the number of May beetles eaten ; in the 

 second half of the month, the food consists chiefly of small 

 fruits, especially raspberries, cherries and currants ; so that for 

 the month as a whole, only forty-nine per cent, of the food is 

 made up of insects. This falls to eighteen per cent, in July, 

 when three quarters of the food consists of small fruits, 

 mostly blackberries, however. In August, with the diminu- 

 tion of the smaller cultivated fruits, the percentage of insects 

 rises to forty-six per cent., nearly one half of which is made 

 up of ants and the rest of caterpillars, grasshoppers, Hemip- 

 tera, Coleoptera, etc. In September, with the appearance of 

 wild cherries, elderberries, Virginia creeper berries and 

 grapes, these are eaten to the extent of seventy-six per cent., 

 the insect element of the food falling to twenty-one per cent., 

 of which almost half consists of ants, and the remainder of 

 beetles and a few caterpillars. 



For the entire year, as appears from the study of seventy 

 specimens by Forbes, insects form forty-three per cent, of the 

 food of the catbird and fruits fifty-two per cent. As the in- 

 jurious insects killed are offset by the beneficial ones destroyed, 

 " the injury done in the fruit-garden by these birds remains 

 without compensation unless we shall find it in the food of the 

 young," says Professor Forbes. And this has been found, to 

 the credit of the catbird; for Weed learned that the food of 

 three nestlings consisted of insects, sixty-two per cent, of 

 which were cutworms and four per cent, grasshoppers; while 

 Judd found that fourteen nestlings had eaten but four per 

 cent, of fruit, the diet being chiefly ants, beetles, caterpillars, 

 spiders and grasshoppers. In fact, Weed believes that, on 

 the whole, the benefit received from the catbird is much greater 

 than the harm done, and that its destruction should never be 

 permitted except when necessary in order to save precious 

 crops. 



Bluebird. The excellent reputation which the bluebird 

 bears everywhere as an enemy of noxious insects is well-de- 



