INSECT FOOD OF CARDINAL. 21 
1.17 percent of the subsistence, being eaten by 31 birds. In the larval 
state these beetles excavate tunnels in trees and do immense damage. 
Two species were identified in stomachs of the redbird, namely, the 
locust borer (Agrilus egenus) and another (Dicerca obscura) which 
bores into various deciduous trees. The beetles of this family seem 
to be a regular item of diet of all kinds of grosbeaks, and we may be 
sure that their destruction is highly beneficial. 
The rather similar appearing click-beetles, adults of the disastrous 
wireworms, were secured by 23 redbirds. Twelve birds ate long- 
horned borers (Cerambycide), 2 species being identified, neither of 
which is an important pest. However, the entire family is injurious, 
and the cardinal should be commended for diminishing the numbers 
of any of the species. 
The closely related family of leaf-beetles (Chrysomelidex) does not 
furnish a large percentage of the redbird’s fare, although several of 
its species are 
captured. The 
notorious spotted 
cucumber - beetle 
(Diabrotica  12- 
punctata, fig. 26), 
the strawberry 
root-borer (Co- 
laspis brunnea), 
plum leaf - beetle 
(Nodonota  tris- 
tis), sweet potato 
leaf-beetle (Cop- Fic. 16.—Locust leaf-miner (Odontota dorsalis). (From Chit- 
tocycla) , willow tenden, Bureau of Entomology.) 
and poplar species (Chrysomela bigsbyana and Jelasoma scripta), 
besides some others that feed on weeds and other wild plants, are occa- 
sionally eaten. Two additional species, the locust leaf-miner and the 
three-lined potato beetle, deserve more extended notice. Concerning 
the locust leaf-mining beetle (Odontota dorsalis, fig. 16), Dr. S. D. 
Judd says, in “ Birds of a Maryland Farm:” + 
In the summer of 1895 a destructive outbreak * * * turned all the 
locusts of the farm as brown as if they had been scorched by fire, ruining the 
yerdure of the river bluff. * * * From 1896 to 1902, inclusive, the beetles 
did not again ruin the foliage. * * * In 1896 the trees further up the river, 
however, were turned brown, showing that the escape of those at Marshall Hall 
was not due to climatic conditions unfavorable to the insects; therefore it is 
possible that the birds were at least to some extent responsible for it. 
¢ Bull. 17, Biological Survey, 1902, pp. 29-30, 
