A STUDY OF 
The Autumn Food of the Myrtle Warbler 
BY CLARENCE M. WEED AND NED DEARBORN 
It is only within a comparatively few years that the service 
rendered to agriculture by birds has been appreciated. It is 
becoming, however, to be more and more believed that the 
birds as a class are set over against the insects as a class to 
maintain a balance which shall prevent the latter from de- 
stroying plant life, both wild and cultivated. But the economic 
status of each species of bird has to be determined with pre- 
cision before we can say that that particular species deserves 
protection and encouragement. Some studies of this sort 
have heretofore been made by the entomological department 
of this station , 1 while the present bulletin records a special 
study of the autumn food of the Myrtle or Yellow-rump 
Warbler, by the entomologist and Dr. Ned Dearborn, the lat- 
ter at the time a post-graduate student in the college. 
Of all the members of the warbler tribe that are found in 
southern New Hampshire, either as summer residents or 
passing migrants, probably none excel the Myrtle or Yellow- 
rump Warbler 2 in abundance, and certainly none approach it 
in apparent numbers. They are especially noticeable because, 
unlike most warblers, they 7 largely neglect the woods in favor 
of orchards and scrubby pastures. They are hardy birds, 
wintering regularly as far north as Cape Cod, and presuma- 
bly 7 , in favorable seasons, along the coast, in this state, for 
they are recorded by Mr. William Brewster in Minot’s Land 
1 Bulletin 54, “The Winter Food of the Chickadee.” Bulletin 55, “The Feeding 
Habits of the Chipping Sparrow.” 
2 Dendroica coronata. 
