FOOD HABITS OF THE VIREOS 9 
flowers, suffer most from the red-eye; but their number is so great 
that it is probable that no one species is much affected by the vireo. 
As only two instances were found of the eating of a honeybee by this 
bird, it is evident that this vireo is not destructive to these useful 
insects. As with most of the hemipterans, the greatest destruction 
of the hymenopterans by the bird is in spring, the percentage for 
April being 20.39. This figure is increased to 20.97 in May, and from 
then on to the close of the season it diminishes steadily to 3.18 in 
October. Hymenopterans, with 10.79 per cent, stand third in quan- 
tity in the annual food of this species. 
Diptera. — Flies, although eaten more or less regularly, do not at 
any time form a large portion of the diet of the red-eye. Remains of 
these were found in 119 stomachs and amounted to 4.46 per cent of 
the total food. Crane flies and midges appear to be the kinds usually 
taken; this is undoubtedly because such forms are more abundant in 
the natural feeding haunts of the bird. 
Other insects. — Grasshoppers, katydids, stone flies, tree crickets, and 
similar insects together make up 4.59 per cent of the food. Of 569 
stomachs examined, 88 contained at least traces of these forms, the 
percentage steadily increasing toward fall. This increase may be 
attributed to the greater abundance of the grasshoppers and katydids 
at that season and also to the growing scarcity of the foods which 
formed substantial percentages in spring. There are both beneficial 
and injurious forms included in the miscellaneous category; but it is 
evident from the stomach analyses that the injurious forms, as grass- 
hoppers, outnumber the beneficial forms— dragonflies, and other pre- 
dacious amphibious insects — by more than two to one. One can 
hardly begrudge the vireo this small toll (about 2 per cent) collected 
while performing a good service. 
Spiders. — Most spiders make their homes on bushes and in the 
branches of trees and there spread their filmy nets to catch whatever 
unwary insect may stumble into them. Thus both the red-eye and 
the spider are helping to check the increase of insects. But as the 
predatory activity of 10 or even 100 spiders is not comparable to 
that of one vireo, the bird is economically the more useful. That the 
remains of spiders were detected in 188 of the stomachs examined 
indicates that they are a favorite article of diet with this vireo. In 
August, when they are most abundant, spiders amount to nearly 
6.5 per cent of the total food, but this figure is not maintained either 
in spring or fall, and the annual percentage is only 4.05. 
Other animal food. — Apparently it is only curiosity which leads a 
red-eyed vireo to take animal f ood other than insects or spiders. 
Remains of snails, probably of a kind usually found on leaves and 
grass, were found in two stomachs collected in June, and as they form 
only 0.02 per cent of the food of that month they are entirely lost in 
the yearly averages. 
VEGETABLE FOOD 
During the first part of the year, when insect food is plentiful, the 
red-eyed vireo takes very little vegetable matter. From August on, 
however, the vegetable food increases rapidly, until in October the 
percentage of 49.41 is reached. Berries of all kinds find favor with 
this bird, from the sweet mulberry to the bitter barberry. Of the 
berries most used by man and eaten also by the red-eyed vireo may 
502Q9— 25f 2 
