24 



Bulletin of the New Yoek State Museum. 



hiding places to the Robin. It should be observed in regard to 

 these cut-worms, that large numbers of them are destroyed by vari- 

 ous birds just after showers and during cool, drizzly and lowery 

 days, when the absence of the scorching rays of the sun, enables 

 them to feed with quite as much comfort as during the night % 



" From the stomach of one Robin were taken seven cut- worms, 

 1.25 inch long." 



Prof. Forbes, State Entomologist of Illinois, in the examination 

 of the contents of the stomachs of nine Robins, made during the 

 month of May, found that cut-worms were extraordinarily promi- 

 nent in their food, making twenty-eight per cent of the whole. 

 Half of them consisting of a single large injurious species, Nephelodes 

 violans (Bulletin No. 6, Illinois State Laboratory of Natural History, 

 1882, p. 4). 



The Cat bird.— The same food has been found in the stomach 

 of this species, Mimus Carolinensis L. (id., ib.). 



In the examination of the stomachs of several young Cat-birds, 

 Mr. C. M. Weed determined sixty-two per cent of the contents to 

 be larval noctuids, and mainly of cut- worms (Note from the Ento- 

 mological Laboratory of the Michigan Agricultural College, 1884, 

 p. 21). 



The Bed-winged Black bird. — Prof. Forbes has also taken cut- 

 worms from the stomach of this bird, Agelceus Phceniceus L., in 

 Illinois. 



The Purple Crackle. — Mr. King notes of this Grackle, Quisca- 

 lus purpureas, that it often follows the plow in quest of grubs and 

 cut-worms (loc. cit., p. 552). 



Poultry. — Chickens, especially, are very efficient destroyers of 

 cut- worms, in gardens, where they search 

 for, and are quick to discover, them in the 

 upturned ground. A large orchardist has 

 stated that he would not have been able 

 to cope with the worms that attacked his 

 trees without availing himself of the ser- 

 vices of a large brood of chickens pro- 

 cared for the purpose (First Beport of 

 the Insects of Missouri, p. 90). 



Calosoma calidum (Fabr.). — The larva 

 Fig. 25— Calosoma calidum : of this ground-beetle, previously referred 



a, the larva; b, the beetle. ^ Qn page -^ wMch preyg upQn m&nj 



