ECONOMIC RELATIONS OF OUR BIRDS. 
477 
thickets which adjoin them, and I have no doubt that they had been searching 
for food. 
Of eight specimens examined one had eaten two ants; one, a large lamellicom 
beetle; one, three wire-worms (ElaterJ; one, a larve of a ground beetle; one, a 
harvest-man; two, dogwood berries; and one, raspberries. 
Insects (Samuels). Beetles, berries, and, in Labrador, blossoms of several 
dwarf plants (And.). Canker-worm (Maynard). 
7 . Mimus polyglottus (L.), Boib. MOCKINGBIRD. Group II. Class a. 
This is a southern species which occurs irregularly in the state, and is said to 
nest occasionally near Racine. ' 
8. Mimus Carolinensis (Linn.), Gray. CATBIRD. Group II. Class b. 
Known to almost everybody, looked upon by children as a peevish, snarling 
bird, and regarded by the farmer and gardener as a sly, sneaking robber, the 
poor Catbird has but few friends. Although not one of the best birds, he ren¬ 
ders a far greater service and does much less injury than many give him credit. 
for. Extremely abundant in his favorite resorts, with us the whole summer, of 
good size and active habits, his aggregate consumption of food is large. Lov¬ 
ing best willow, osier, and alder thickets, where woods slope into marshes, the 
brush piles and brambles about old clearings, the hazel patches fringing groves, 
and the tangled hedges that often grow along fences, the Catbird can do but lit¬ 
tle harm while in these haunts. On the contrary, he must render there mate¬ 
rial service, for such places are the nurseries of hosts of insect forms. It is 
only when he intrudes upon orchards, gardens and vineyards for small fruits 
that he can be looked upon as injurious; this, however, he rarely does unless 
his favorite haunts are near at hand. Occasionally he nests in those gardens 
where much shrubbery grows along the fences, and his familiar feline “ mew ” 
is sometimes heard in our villages. 
Of twenty-two specimens examined, six had eaten twenty-four ants; two, 
three grasshoppers; one, three crickets; three, three beetles; one, sheep berries; 
two, dogwood berries; one, blueberries; one, choke cherries; one, raspberries, 
and one, black cherries. From the stomach of one bird were taken three crick¬ 
ets and two grasshoppers, and from that of another were taken one ground 
beetle ('Harpalini ?J, one tipulid, one heteropterous insect and one larva (cater¬ 
pillar?). Its food, according to others, consists of strawberries, cherries and 
pears (Wils.); insects, worms, fruits and berries (Cooper); berries, worms, 
wasps and other insects (De Kay); canker worms (Maynard). Prof. Forbes, in 
discussing the economic relations of the Catbird, after having examined the 
contents of seventy stomachs, concludes that the beneficial, injurious and neu¬ 
tral elements eaten by the birds stand in the relation of 41 to 15 to 44. Among 
injurious insects he finds the birds had eaten saw-fiies one per cent., lepidoptera 
seven, leaf-chafers two, snout-beetles one, plant-beetles one, chinch-bugs one, 
and orthoptera three, making a total of sixteen per cent.; while among benefi¬ 
cial insects he finds predaceous beetles five per cent., predaceous hemiptera 
one, and arachnida two, making a total of eight per cent. Deducting the 
eight per cent, of beneficial insects from the forty-one per cent., it is seen that 
thirty-three per cent, of the food consisted of garden fruits, while fifty-two per 
cent, represents the amount of fruits of all kinds eaten by the birds. 
