INSECT FOOD OF CARDINAL. 15 
The cardinal is frequently alluded to in ornithological literature as 
preying upon bees. Peter Kalm published the first of these state- 
ments in 1770, and the later ones were probably suggested by, if not 
copied from, his. Wilson (1831), Nuttall (1832), and later authors 
reiterate the charge, though the context does not show that any of 
them knew of the matter at first hand. It is quite possible that, so 
far as this particular trait is concerned, the cardinal has been con- 
founded with the similarly colored but otherwise very different sum- 
mer redbird, which is well known to prey upon bees. At any rate, it 
is significant that the present examination did not reveal a single bee 
among the insect food of the redbirds. On the whole, the cardinal 
shows no great relish for Hymenoptera, and among the species eaten 
those injurious to man and the less valuable kinds predominate. 
Among other possibly beneficial insects, the redbirds had eaten an 
assassin bug and a remarkable predaceous neuropteron (J/antispa 
brimnea), also a nymphal and an adult dragon fly. The latter crea- 
tures probably do as much harm in destroying young fish as good in 
preying upon insects. At most, not more than 2 percent, probably 
much less, of the cardinal’s food consists of useful insects, while 12 
times as much consists of injurious species, the destruction: of which 
is a benefit. 
One of the most important constituents of the major proportion 
is Lepidoptera. They compose 5.08 percent of the annual subsis- 
tence, amounting, however, in May to 26.71 percent. The adults 
taken consist of 5 moths and 1 butterfly, which together make up 0.17 
percent of the food. Caterpillars are much more relished and 137 
redbirds fed upon them, sometimes obtaining from 7 to 18 each. The 
cotton worm (Alobome argillacea, fig. 20), which formerly was a 
serious pest and which even now spoils a late-planted crop, was eaten 
by 3 cardinals. There is evidence that the bird habitually feeds upon 
this insect, and as early as 1885 C. V. Riley remarked ¢ that “ birds 
are of incalculable benefit” in combating the cotton worm, and the 
cardinal is one of those which prey upon it more or less persistently. 
A second cotton pest, the bollworm (Heliothis obsoleta, fig. 8), 
which is familiar also as the corn ear-worm, is occasionally devoured, 
and a third, the cotton cutworm (Prodenia ornithogalli, fig. 9) is 
greatly relished. Ninety-six of the latter were eaten by 31 cardinals 
from the Texas cotton fields. The destruction of cotton insects by 
the redbird is important, since the bird is numerous in the cotton re- 
gion and feeds upon the worst enemies of the plant. 
The sphinx caterpillars, so many of which are injurious to culti- 
vated plants, were eaten by 20 redbirds. The species identified are 
the laurel sphinx (Sphina kalmie) and the purslane sphinx (Deile- 
phila lineata, fig. 38), the latter being a general feeder and attacking 
@¥ourth Ann. Rep. U. 8S. Ent. Comm. 1885, p. 88. 
18848—Bull. 32—08——2 
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