20 



BULLETIN 280, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Caterpillars, eaten in every month and mostly in goodly quantities, 

 appear to be a favorite food of the hermit thrush. December is the 

 month of least consumption (2.75 per cent) , while the most were 

 eaten in June (17.08 per cent). The average for the year is 9.54 per 

 cent. Hemiptera (bugs) seem to be eaten whenever found, as they 

 appear in the food of every month, but rather irregularly and not 

 in large quantities. The greatest consumption was in June (9.17 per 

 cent) , but July, September, and December show the least (less than 

 1 per cent). The total for the year is 3.63 per cent. Of the six 

 families represented, the Pentatomidse, or stink bugs, predominate. 

 These highly flavored insects are eaten by most insectivorous birds 

 often, but usually in small quantities. 



Diptera (flies) comprise 3.02 per cent of the food of the hermit 

 thrush. The record shows, however, that nearly all of them are 

 either crane flies (Tipulida?) and their eggs and larvae, or March flies 

 (Bibio) and their larva3. Over 150 of the latter were found in one 

 stomach. Both of these families of flies lay their eggs in the ground, 

 which accounts for their consumption by ground-feeding birds. Or- 

 thoptera (grasshoppers and crickets) are eaten by the hermit thrush 

 to the extent of 6.32 per cent of its food. "While this figure is not 

 remarkable, it is the highest for any of the genus. These birds are 

 fond of dark moist nooks among trees and bushes and do not feed 

 extensively in those dry sunshiny places so much frequented by 

 grasshoppers. A close inspection of the food record shows that the 

 Orthoptera eaten by the thrushes are mostly crickets, which live in 

 shadier and moister places than those where grasshoppers abound. 

 A few miscellaneous insects (0.27 per cent) close the insect account. 

 Spiders and myriapods (7.47 per cent) seem to constitute a very ac- 

 ceptable article of diet, as they amount to a considerable percentage 

 in nearly every month, and in May rise to 20.79 per cent. A few 

 miscellaneous animals, as sowbugs, snails, and angleworms, make up 

 the balance of the animal food (1.26 per cent). 



Following is a list of insects so far as identified and the number 

 of stomachs in which found : 



TTYMKXnpTERA. 



Tiphia inornata 



COLEOPTEIIA. 



Elaphrus sp 



Xotiophiluz semistriatua 



Sen ri i rx aubterraneua 



Dyschirius pumilis 



Ptcrostichii8 pal nulls 



Ptero8tic7ius sp 



Amara sp 



Chlocnius pennsylvanicus 



8tenolophu8 sp 



A nisodact'ilu* agil»8- - 



Tropi8tcrnu8 limbaUa 



Hydrocharis ohtusatua . 



$phwrhlium lecontci 



Ptomaphagxn consobrinut 



Anisoioma r alula 



Alcuilla in n r a hi I a 



Anatis 15-maculata 



Payllobora ta'data 



Brachycantha ursina— 

 En (him iich us h Igu ttnl u 8 - 



Cii/ptophaijus sp 



Wis ter m a rgin icoll>8 



IIi8tcr americanua 



Baprin us li m bria t us 



Carpophilu8 hemipterw*. 



