396 The American Naturalist. [May, 
grasshoppers, spiders and smooth caterpillars were greedily 
devoured. Plant lice were not eaten, but the ants which 
tended them were quickly disposed of. 
In making experiments with stinging Hymenoptera, I found 
that my catbirds refused to take honey bees; but a chewink 
ate one of these insects and died within fifteen minutes. King- 
birds, as a rule, eat only drone bees, but an instance is recorded 
of a bird that was found with a bee’s sting implanted in its 
tongue. My catbirds regarded slugs (Gasteropods) as unsavory, 
but ate small snails. The birds relished thousand legs and 
earthworms. 
By experiment it was demonstrated that beetle larve are 
regarded as dainty tidbits, but, owing to the fact that they live 
in such secure places as under sod or in rotten wood, they are 
seldom found by the catbirds, who has not the bill of the 
woodpecker to chisel them out, nor the sagacity of the grackle 
in following the plow. 
Having ascertained what insects were eaten by caged cat- 
birds, it will now be instructive to compare the results obtained 
by experiment with those arrived at by stomach examinations. 
Beetles formed, in the 200 catbird stomachs examined, the 
most important part of the animal food, and among these 
beetles strong scented Carabidx were found oftener than any 
others. This family is very numerous in individuals, and 
consequently its members would be the insects which the cat- 
bird would most often have an opportunity of picking up. It 
was first supposed that they were eaten because of the ease of 
obtaining them and in spite of their offensive smell, until ex- 
periment demonstrated that catbirds regard Carabide as very 
. palatable articles of food. None of the hard shelled beetles, 
which were refused by captive catbirds, were detected during 
stomach examinations; on the other hand, such soft animals 
as spiders and grasshoppers were found in large quantities, 
thus further showing the coincidence between the results of 
experiment and stomach examination. Both methods of in- 
vestigation show that ants are much relished, and that smooth 
caterpillars are preferred to hairy ones. 
