The Food of Birds. 
121 
cent. ; and beetles twelve per cent., one-third of which are 
Carabidae. The scavenger beetles and leaf-chafers are 
three per cent, of the food; plant-beetles, one per cent., 
and snout-beetles, belonging chiefly to the leaf-eating 
Brevirostres, likewise one per cent. Two parts of Hemip- 
tera and three of Orthoptera are the only other items 
that we need notice. It will be seen that ants and beetles 
occur in about equal ratios, and that these are the most 
important insect elements in the food. Diptera and 
Lepidoptera taken together about equal one of the former 
elements. 
Recapitulation. 
In the catbird as in the robin the insect averages are 
highest in the early months, and fall rapidly away from 
May to July — rising again in August and .declining in 
September. The ratios of insects taken for the five 
months covered by this table are as follows : 83, 49, 18, 
46, 21. The same double curve is especially apparent in 
the averages of ants, the corresponding ratios for which 
are 18, 11, 2, 20, 9. Beetles gradually diminish to July and 
then remain tolerably constant for the season. The pre- 
daceous ground-beetles maintain themselves at nearly 
uniform figures throughout. The Scarabaeidae are, of 
course, most abundant in May and June, when the leaf- 
chafers are abroad. The snout-beetles observed were all 
taken in the months of May and June, and belonged 
chiefly to species whose injuries are confined to the leaves 
of trees. Only trifling ratios of plant-beetles were eaten 
by these birds. Hemiptera also occur in insignificant 
quantity, the only notable fact being the presence of 
chinch-bugs in the food of one bird. Orthoptera seemed 
to be most abundant in the late and early months, dimin- 
ishing in June and July. Considerable numbers of Arach- 
nida and Myriapoda are eaten by the catbird — a point 
in which it contrasts notably with the robin. No earth- 
worms were detected in the food. With respect to the 
fruits taken by this bird, we find that the general ratios 
for the corresponding months agree closely with those of 
the robin. Berries of the sumach are eaten in May, but 
raspberries and blackberries are the most prominent 
