APPENDIX II. AUGHEY ON LOCUST-FEEDING BIRDS. [27] 



Myiadestes townsendi, (Aud.) Cab. 



Townscnd^s Fhjcatcldng Thrush. 



This bird must be accidental in Nebraska. I learned to know it in the mountains 

 from Coues's description. During the last summer, in August, I was astonished to see 

 one on the Niobrara, among some cedars. After watching it for some time, wiih ''he 

 skill of a fly-catcher it captured alocust,onthe wing,asafew of these insects were flying 

 at the time. It is the only time I have ever seen it in the State, and have learned 

 nothing as to the proportion of locusts tliat they capture. 



Family VIREONID^ : Greenlets. 



ViREO OLiVACEUS, (Linn.) Vieill. 



Bed-eyed Vireo. 



This Vireo is common in the timber belts along the Missouri and its tributaries in 

 Nebraska. It breeds abundantly m the State. At the edge of timber I have frequently 

 seen it emerge from a thicket and light down on locust-covered ground, and fill itself, 

 esj^ecially when these insects are half-grown. I have been disappointod in killing 

 these birds late in June, both in Dakota County in 1865, and in Lancaster County in 

 1875, and finding only the remains of a few locusts, while a month earlier four-fifths of 

 their food was made up of these insects. 



Vireo philadelphicus, Cass. 



Brotherly-love Vireo. 



Common in Eastern Nebraska, but not as abundant as the preceding species. It 

 also breeds here, and like the foregoing, when it first arrives, from the 15th to the 25th 

 of May. it indulges more in locust food than a month later, when they are larger. The 

 f ollowins: record is indicative of this : 



1 



p 



p 



1 



2 

 3 



4 



Locality. 



■ 



Date. 



P 



p a 



p 

 O 



Datota Countv l^Bbraskft • - • 



May 27, 1865 

 June 5,] 86;") 

 Juuel7, 1865 

 June 16, 1877 



19 



21 



2 



5 



15 

 10 



22 

 20 





do ^ 



Laiicaster Cotuitv IN^elirjiska . ..... 





Vireo gilvus, (Vieill.) Bp. 

 Warhling Vireo. 



Have only found this species abundant in Northeastern Nebraska, where it breeded. 

 A great many nests of this bird were built among the cottonwoods in Dakota City, 

 where, in May and June, 1865, 1 frequently saw it light down within a rod of me where 

 locusts abounded and feed on them. This species seemed to eat them in all stages of 

 their growth, and brought them constantly to their nests for their young. 



Vireo flavifrons, Vieill. 



Yellow-throated Vireo. 



Somewhat abundant in Southeastern Nebraska, but rare north of the Platte. It breeds 

 in Richardson County. I have failed to make any observations with reference to the 

 feeding habits of this bird, but have no doubt, from the character of its congeners, that 

 it also eats young locusts. 



Vireo solitarius, (Wils.) Vieill. 



Blue-headed or Solitary Vireo. 



Found in the timber-belts of Eastern Nebraska, but not abundant. The only one 

 whose stomach I examined, in June, 1865, contained about an equal quantity of locusts 

 and other insects. 



Vireo noveboracensis, (Gm.) Bp. 



White-eyed Vireo. 



Occasionally met with in Nebraska, where, in Richardson County, in some shrubbery 

 in the Nemaha Bottom, I found a nest in the spring of 1875. The old birds were feed- 



