MOCKING BIRD (Mimus polyglottos). 



Length, 10 inches. Most easily distinguished 

 from the similarly colored loggerhead shrike 

 (see p. 679) by the absence of a conspicuous 

 black stripe through the eye. 



Range: Resident from southern Mexico north 

 to California, Wyoming, Iowa, Ohio, and Mary- 

 land; casual farther north. 



Habits and economic statue: Because of its 

 incomparable medleys and imitative powers, 

 the mocking bird is the most renowned singer 

 of the Western Hemisphere. Even in confine- 

 ment it is a masterly performer, and formerly 

 thousands were trapped and sold for cage birds, 

 but this reprehensible practice has been largely 

 stopped by protective laws. It is not surpris- 

 ing, therefore, that the mocking bird should re- 

 ceive protection principally because of its ability 

 as a songster and its preference for the vicinity 

 of dwellmgs. Its place in the affections of the 

 South is similar to that occupied by the robin 

 in the North. It is well that this is true, for 

 the bird appears not to earn protection from a 

 strictly economic standpoint. About half of its 

 diet consists of fruit, and many cultivated va- 

 rieties are attacked, such as oranges, grapes, 

 figs, strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries. 

 Somewhat less than a fourth of the food is animal matter, and grasshoppers are the 

 largest single element. The bird is fond of cotton worms, and is known to feed also 

 on the chinch bug, rice weevil, and boll worm. It is unfortunate that it does not 

 feed on injurious insects to an extent suflScient to offset its depredations on fruit. 

 (See Yearbook U. S. Dept. Agric. 1895, pp. 415-416, and Biol. Survey Bui. 30, 

 pp. 52-56.) 



MYRTLE WARBLER (Dendroica coronata). 



Length, 5J inches. The similarly colored Audubon's warbler has a yellow 

 throat instead of a white one. 



Breeds throughout most of the forested area of Canada and south to 

 Minnesota, Michigan, New York, and Massachu- 

 setts; winters in the southern two-thirds of the 

 United States and south to Panama. 



Habits and economic status: This member of 

 our beautiful wood warbler family, a family pecul- 

 iar to America, has the characteristic voice, col- 

 oration, and habits of its kind . Trim of form and 

 graceful of motion, when seeking food it cc«nbines 

 the methods of the wrens, creepers, and flycatch- 

 ers. It breeds only in the northern parts of the 

 eastern United States, but in migration it occurs 

 in every patch of woodland and is so numerous 

 that it IS familiar to every observer. Its place 

 is taken in the West by Audubon's warbler. 

 More than three-fourths of the food of the 

 myrtle warbler consists of insects, practically 

 all of them harmful. It is made uj) of small 

 beetles, including some weevils, with many 

 ants and wasps. This bird is so small and nim- 

 ble that it successfully attacks insects too minute 

 to be prey for larger birds . Scales and plant lice 

 form a very considerable part of its diet. Flies 

 are the largest item of food; in fact, only a few 

 flycatchers and swallows eat as many flies as this 

 bird. The vegetable food (22 per cent) is made 

 up of fruit and the seeds of poison oak or ivy, also 

 the seeds of pine and of the bay berry. 



f-r 



678 



