14 BULLETIN 280, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
south as southern California. The habits of birds of this species 
resemble those of cthers cf the genus in living in swamps and woed- 
lands rather than in gardens and orchards. The russet-back on the 
Pacific coast, however, seems to have become quite domestic, and 
wherever a stream runs through or past an orchard or garden, or 
the orchard is near thick chaparral, “hig bird is sure to be found 
taking its toll of the fruit and rearing its young in the thicket be- 
side the stream. During the cherry season it takes a liberal share 
of the fruit, but its young, then in the nest, are. fed almost entirely 
on insects. The eastern subspecies, on the contrary, does not come 
in contact with domestic fruit or any other. product of husbandry. 
A great number of the subspecies nest far north of the negiey ot fruit 
raising. 7 
For this investigation 403 stomachs of the olive-backed thrush 
were available, collected in 25 States, the District of Columbia, 
and Canada. Florida, Louisiana, and Texas represent the most 
southern collections and New Brunswick, Ontario, and Northwest 
Territory the most northern. In California 157 stomachs were ob- 
tained, which, with those taken in Oregon and Washington, fairly 
represent the Pacific coast region. The whole collection was fairly — 
well distributed over the nine months from March to November. The 
food consisted of 63.52 per cent of animal matter to 36.48 per cent 
of vegetable. 
Animal food.—Beetles of all kinds amount to 16.29 per cent. Of 
these 3.14 per cent are the useful Carabide. The others belong 
to harmful or neutral families. Weevils or snout beetles (Rhyn- 
chophora) amount to 5.29 per cent, a high percentage for such in- 
sects. One Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) was 
found in a stomach taken on Long Island. Hymenoptera col- 
lectively aggregate 21.50 per cent. Of these, 15.20 per cent are ants— 
a favorite food of Hylocichla. The remainder (6.30 per cent) were 
wild bees and wasps. No honeybees were found. Caterpillars, which 
rank next in importance in the food of the olive-back, form a good 
percentage of the food of every month represented and aggregate 
10.30 per cent for the season. | 
Grasshoppers are not an important element in the food of thrushes, 
as they chiefly inhabit open areas, while Wylocichla prefers thick 
damp cover, where grasshoppers are not found. An inspection of 
the record shows that most of the orthopterous food taken by the 
olive-back consists of crickets, whose habits are widely different from 
those of grasshoppers, and which are found under stones, old logs, 
dead herbage. The greatest quantity is taken in August and 
September. The average for the season is 2.42 per cent. 
Diptera (flies) reach the rather surprisingly large figure of 6.23 
per cent. These insects are usually not eaten to any great extent 
