ECONOMIC RELATIONS OF OUR BIRDS 
475 
Beets and twenty per cent, of fruit, a small ratio of spiders and an unusu¬ 
ally large percentage of myriapoda making up the remainder. Blackbei'ries, 
strawberries, cherries and gooseberries appear among the fruits. The twelve 
per cent, of myriapoda were mostly Palydesmus and Inulus. Harvest-men were 
among the two per cent, of arachnida, orthoptera were six and hemiptera one 
per cent. Wire-worms and snout-beetles make up thirteen per cent, and the 
carabidae amount to six per cent. The coleoptera make eighteen per cent, and 
the diptera twelve per cent. Lepidoptera were taken in about the same amount, 
one-third being recognized as cut-worms, while ants reached the unusual aver¬ 
age of fifteen per cent. 
3. Turdus unalasc^ nanus (Aud.), Coues. eastern HERMIT THRUSH. 
Group 1. Class b. 
The Hermit Thrush, occasionally at least, occurs in our state during the sum¬ 
mer, where I believe it also breeds, although it is regarded by Dr. Coues, “ on 
the whole, a more northern bird than any of its allies.” Two specimens of this 
species were obtained July 22, 1876, near Waupaca. Both were males. The 
first was perched near the top of a dead tree standing in a small opening in an 
unfrequented piece of upland woods, and singing merrily when taken. Four 
other birds similarly situated in the immediate vicinity, and just as joyous, 
hushed their voices and fied when their comrade fell; the other was surprised 
on the shore of a small lake in the edge of a grove of young tamaracks. Dur¬ 
ing the fall migrations of this species, which begin the last of September, it is 
common in timbered districts where pieces of woods are bordered by open 
fields. In the spring nearly all have passed us to the northward by the 10th of 
May. Nelson states that this, and the two varieties of the Olive-backed Thrush, 
frequent vacant lots and grounds containing shrubbery in Chicago, in large 
numbers during the migrations — a fact which bespeaks for them a growing 
familiarity. As with all of the Thrushes, it obtains most of its food from the 
ground. Of nine specimens examined, one had eaten twenty ants; three, a cat¬ 
erpillar each; two, three grasshoppers; six, as many undetermined beetles; and 
one, a wire-worm. One had eaten wild grapes, and one, berries of the Indian 
turnip. 
Of eighteen specimens examined by Prof. Forbes, thirteen per cent, of their 
food was ants, eighteen per cent, lepidoptera, twelve per cent, carabidae (includ¬ 
ing Dischirius globulosus, Platynus, Evartlirus, Pterostichus, Amara, Anisodac- 
tylus, Bradycellus and StenolophusJ, five per cent, dung-beetles, two per cent, 
curculios, two per cent, plant beetles, nine per cent, hemiptera (including three 
per cent. Reduviidae), eighteen per cent, grasshoppers, and a single lace-wing. 
A few of the caterpillars were measuring-worms. Eighty-seven per cent, of the 
food was insects proper, four per cent, arachnida and nine per cent, herbivorous 
myriapods. 
4. Turdus ustulatus Alicle (Bd.), Coues. ALICE’S THRUSH; GRAY¬ 
CHEEKED THRUSH. 
5. Turdus ustulatus Swainsoni (Cab.), Coues. OLIVE-BACKED THRUSH. 
Group I. Class b. 
Considering both varieties of Swainsoni together, this Thrush, aside from the 
Robin, is the most abundant member of its genus. Neither form, so far as 
known, nests in the state; Nelson, however, mentions var. Swainsoni as a rare 
