132 
The Food of Birds. 
gave a table of the food of this species based upon twen- 
ty-eight specimens shot in April, May, June and July. A 
test of the substantial correctness of the conclusions of 
the present paper may be made by comparing the aver- 
ages of the table printed herewith with the table on page 
150 of the Transactions cited. If the important ratios of 
the present table, covering the food of sixty-four speci- 
mens, shot during six month^of the year, agree substan- 
tially with that table of the food of twenty-eight speci- 
mens, covering but four months of the year, this will be 
sufficient evidence of their general correctness. I will give 
these averages alternately, first for the former table and 
then for the present. The twenty-eight specimens of 1879 
had eaten insects to the amount of fifty-nine per cent., 
and sixty-four specimens of the table of 1880 had eaten 
insects to the amount of fifty-one per cent. Hymenoptera 
are seven in the first and eight in the second ; ants are 
seven in the first and also in the second; Lepidoptera 
seven and seven, Diptera a trace and one, Coleoptera 
twenty-nine and twenty-five, Carabkhe six and six, Sil- 
phidse two and one; leaf-chafers nine and ten, spring- 
beetles one and two, snout-beetles three and two. Hemip- 
tera two and four, Orthoptera four and four, Arachnida 
one and one, Myriapoda four and three, and fruits twen- 
ty-two and twenty-four. A larger percentage of Hemip- 
tera is due to the much greater abundance of chinch- 
bugs in 1880. 
Recapitulation. 
The brown thrush, arriving in April, finds nearly one- 
half of its food in fragments of corn and other grains 
and seeds picked from the droppings of animals. This 
curious habit it maintains throughout the year, evidently 
taking this food from preference as well as from neces- 
sity. In fact I have often found these vegetable frag- 
ments associated with blackberries in the food. 
After April this element averages about sixteen per 
cent, throughout the season. Insects amount to about 
half the food for each month, except in May when they 
rise to three-fourths and in July when they drop to one- 
fourth. The excess in May occurs at the time of the 
