10 
FARMERS* BULLETIN 755. 
The important items in the animal diet are beetles, ants, bee3, wasps, grasshoppers, 
caterpillars, and a few each of several other groups. Useful beetles, mostly predacious 
ground beetles (3.47 per cent), together with grasshoppers, show that the mockingbird 
must gather a considerable portion of its food upon the ground. Harmful beetles 
(7.38 per cent) are of sorts mostly found on leaves of trees, bushes, or plants which 
are the natural habitat of the mocker. Many of these were weevils, and among them 
were nine specimens of the cotton boll weevil, in six stomachs. About a dozen 
stomachs contained remains of the 12-spotted cucumber beetle. Many other species 
were identified which are nearly as harmful but not so well known. 
Ants (4.46 per cent), found in 75 stomachs, again show that the mockingbird goes 
to the ground for at least a portion of his food. Bees and wasps (3 per cent) are mostly 
good flyers and must either be taken on the wing or picked from flowers, and it is in 
the latter situation probably that the mockingbird gets them. 
True bugs are eaten so seldom by this bird that the item would not be worth men¬ 
tioning were it not that one stomach contained remains of that notorious wheat and 
corn pest, the chinch bug. This insect has probably caused more loss to agriculture 
than any other in the United States. Although the percentage In the food of the 
mockingbird is insignificant, any bird that eats this pest deserves honorable mention. 
Flies are apparently merely tasted and pronounced not good, for a trace of them is 
all that stomachs show. Grasshoppers, on the contrary, appear to be the favorite 
animal food. They are eaten every month and average 14.85 per cent for the year. 
In July they rise to 43.33 per cent, but in February there is only a mere trace. All 
the other months make a reasonable showing. Insects of this group captured include 
true grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets, all harmful and some very much so, as, for 
instance, the Rocky Mountain locust or grasshopper, which devastated the upper 
Mississippi Valley a few decades ago. 
Caterpillars (9.48 per cent) were found every month in the diet of the mockingbird 
with a reasonable percentage in all except October. The most were taken in August 
(23.89 per cent), though nearly as many were eaten in May. Among a host of others, 
all more or less harmful, was the cotton leaf worm, found in 23 stomachs, and the cotton 
bollworm, in 2 stomachs. This latter is not confined to the South, but preys upon 
corn, tomatoes, and other crops all through the central and northern portions of the 
country. A few insects other than those already discussed were found, but the per¬ 
centage is insignificant. Spiders were eaten sparingly (less than 2 per cent) in every 
month except October. A few millepeds, crawfish, sowbugs, and snails also were 
eaten, but the most singular food consisted of three lizards and a small snake, found in 
four stomachs. 
The predominant vegetable food of the mockingbird is wild fruit. This is eaten 
every month and totals 42.58 per cent for the year, or more than four-fifths of the vege¬ 
table portion. The maximum consumption (76.91 per cent), occurs in October. 
Wild fruit was found in 246 stomachs, and 76 contained nothing else. Thirty-five 
species of fruit were identified, and it is probable that more were present but too far 
digested to be recognized. Those most frequently eaten were the different species of 
holly, smilax, woodbine, blackberry, pokeberry, elderberry, mulberry, and sour gum. 
Domestic fruit (3.35 per cent), the great bulk of which was either raspberries or 
blackberries, was found in stomachs collected from May to August. Both of these 
berries grow wild in great abundance over most of the country and those eaten by the 
mockingbird are as apt to be taken from thickets and briar patches as from gardens. 
None of the larger fruits were certainly determined, but figs were found occasionally. 
A few grapes were identified, but these may as well have been wild as domestic. The 
mockingbird will probably do little harm to cultivated fruits so long as wild varieties 
are accessible and abundant. The remaining vegetable food was of no great impor¬ 
tance, being made up of various weed seeds, sumac seeds of several species—including 
the poisonous (found in four stomachs)—petals of flowers, and rubbish. No grain of 
any kind was found. 
