MISCELLANEOUS INSECTS EATEN BY CUCKOOS. 13 



commou tent caterpillar {Clisiocampa americana), which was recognized 

 in 17 stomachs, and was almost certainly contained in many more, 

 though the remains were too fragmentary for positive identification. 

 When it is considered that this species can be obtained only during 

 I>Iay and June and that only 50 stomachs were collected in these 

 mouths, it will be seen that more than one-third of all the birds that 

 could get these insects had eaten them. Though the remains in many 

 stomachs could not be identified with certainty, there is no reasonable 

 doubt that these caterpillars constitute at least half of all the food 

 during this period. 



Another caterpillar which appears very frequently in the cuckoo's 

 diet is the destructive fall web-worm {Hyphantria cunea). In one 

 stomach 217 heads of this insect were counted, and the fragments of 

 others indicated that 250 would be nearer the correct number. The 

 larvse of the white-marked tussock moth ( Orgyia leucostigma) are also 

 frequently eaten. One stomach contained remains of a number of 

 army worms {Leucania tinipuncta), but as these caterpillars feed upon 

 grass, grain, and other plants that grow in the open, they do not nat- 

 urally fall in the way of cuckoos. It is probable that army worms 

 would be more extensively eaten if the fields infested with them were 

 in the immediate vicinity of woods. Besides eating caterpillars of 

 ordinary size, cuckoos often indulge in a meal of the larvae of the larger 

 moths and hawk moths. Of the latter, Protoparce Carolina and Beilephila 

 lineata^veTe found in several stomachs. In fact, sphingid larvae appear 

 to be favorites, and make up a large proportion of the hairless cater- 

 pillars eaten. Giant silkworms were represented by one larva of Telea 

 polyphemus, the lo moth {HypercMria io) by 13 larvae, and royal moths 

 by 1 of Eacles imperialis, each as large as a man's finger. Only 3 

 butterfly larvae were identified, one the black spiny larva of Vanessa 

 antiopa. another the well-known Lwienitis disippus, the third the larva 

 of a skipper, Eudamus tityrus. While cuckoos eat many larvae of Lepi- 

 doptera, remains of the adult insects were found only once. In this 

 case the stomach contained the heads of several small moths of the 

 Arctiidce, a family whose larvae are hairy. 



>nSCELLAXEOUS INSECTS. 



A little more than 5 percent of the food is made up of miscellaneous 

 insects, consisting of Diptera, Hymenoptera, and a few others. Tipu- 

 lids, or crane flies, constitute the greater part of the Diptera; they are 

 found in quite a number of stomachs, but do not amount to much in 

 bulk. Among the Hymenoptera, the most interesting, as well as those 

 most frequently found, are larvae of sawflies (Tenthredinidce). These so 

 closely resemble caterpillars that entomologists call them 'false cater- 

 pillars'; and it seems probable that this resemblance explains why the 

 cuckoo eats them. They do not, however, appear distasteful, for one 

 bird had eaten over GO. Larvae of our largest species of sawfly ( Cimhex 



