Part 3

COLEOPTERA.

Harpalus herbivagus 1 Necrophorus tomentosus 1 Philonthus lomatus 1 Hister abbreviatus 1 Hister depurator 1 Hister americanus 2 Ips quadriguttatus 1 Melanotus americanus 1 Corymbites cylindriformis 1 Agrilus bilineatus 1 Telephorus carolinus 1 Onthophagus striatulus 1 Onthophagus tuberculifrons 1 Onthophagus sp 3 Atænius sp 2 Aphodius granarius 1 Aphodius sp 1 Dichelonycha testacea 1 Dichelonycha sp 1 Lachnosterna sp 27 Ligyrus sp 1 Allorhina nitida 1 Euphoria fulgida 1 Euphoria sp 2 Chrysomela pulchra 1 Leptinotarsa decemlineata 2 Odontota sp 1 Coptocycla signifera 1 Coptocycla sp 1 Anametus griseus 1 Phyxelis rigidus 1 Otiorhynchus ovatus 2 Tanymecus confertus 1 Pandeletejus hilaris 1 Barypithes pellucidus 1 Listronotus latiusculus 1 Macrops sp 1 Conotrachelus posticatus 2 Acalles carinatus 1 Balaninus sp 2 Eupsalis minuta 1 Sphenophorus parvulus 1

HEMIPTERA.

Nezara hilaris 2

ORTHOPTERA.

Diapheromera femorata 1

ISOPTERA.

Termes flavipes 1

Vegetable food.--More than nine-tenths of the vegetable food of the wood thrush can be included in a single item--fruit. Cultivated fruit, or what was thought to be such, was found in stomachs taken from June to September, inclusive. It was eaten regularly and moderately, and the total for the season was 3.74 per cent of the whole food. Wild fruits or berries of 22 species were found in 72 stomachs, distributed through every month of the bird's stay at the north. Beginning with 1.18 per cent in April, the quantity gradually increases to 87.17 per cent in October, when it makes more than five-sixths of the whole food. The average for the season is 33.51 per cent. In this investigation Rubus seeds (blackberries or raspberries) are always reckoned as cultivated fruit, though probably most often wild. Besides fruit, a few seeds and rose haws were found, which with a little rubbish complete the vegetable food (40.41 per cent).

Following is a list of fruits, seeds, etc., identified and the number of stomachs in which found:

Yew berries (Taxus minor) 1 False Solomon's seal (Smilacina racemosa) 1 Bayberries (Myrica carolinensis) 1 Mulberries (Morus sp.) 10 Spiceberries (Benzoin æstivale) 5 Currants (Ribes sp.) 1 Mountain ash (Pyrus americanus) 2 Service berries (Amelanchier canadensis) 2 Blackberries or raspberries (Rubus sp.) 17 Rose haws (Rosa sp.) 1 Wild black cherries (Prunus serotina) 1 Chokecherries (Prunus virginiana) 7 Domestic cherries (Prunus cerasus) 4 Croton (Croton sp.) 1 American holly (Ilex opaca) 2 Woodbine berries (Psedera quinquefolia) 1 Frost grapes (Vitis cordifolia) 4 Wild sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis) 1 Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) 3 Rough-leaved cornel (Cornus asperifolia) 4 Dogwood (Cornus sp.) 1 Black gum (Nyssa sylvatica) 1 Huckleberries (Gaylussacia sp.) 1 Blueberries (Vaccinium sp.) 6 French mulberry (Callicarpa americana) 1 Black elderberries (Sambucus canadensis) 1 Other elderberries (Sambucus sp.) 3 Fruit pulp not further identified 12

Of the two stomachs not included in the foregoing discussion, the one taken in Florida in January contained 93 per cent of wild fruit and 7 per cent of weevils, wasps, and spiders; the one collected in Alabama in February was entirely filled with animal food, of which 88 per cent was caterpillars, 5 per cent May beetles, 6 per cent bugs, and 1 per cent spiders.

Summary.--The animal food of the wood thrush includes remarkably few useful insects and contains some very harmful ones, as the Colorado potato beetle and many of the Scarabæidæ, the larval forms of which are the well-known white grubs which are a pest to agriculture in preying upon roots of plants. The vegetable portion of the food contains a small quantity of cultivated fruit, but observation shows that the thrush is in the habit of picking up fallen fruit instead of taking it fresh from the tree. The eating of wild fruit has no economic interest except that it serves to distribute the seeds of many shrubs and trees. There is no occasion to discriminate against this bird in any way. It should be rigidly protected.

VEERY AND WILLOW THRUSH.

(Hylocichla fuscescens fuscescens and Hylocichla fuscescens salicicola.)

The veery is distributed over the eastern portion of the United States during migration and breeds in the Northern States as far south as Pennsylvania, and in New England and Canada. In winter it disappears almost entirely from the country, only a few remaining in Florida and perhaps in other Southern States. Its western representative is the willow thrush. Like other thrushes, birds of this species are shy and retiring in disposition, keeping for the most part in the shade of woods or bushy swamps, or building nests in a damp ravine with a brook gurgling past. They have been known, however, to visit orchards and sometimes gardens which are not kept too trim. It is thus evident that the food has little direct economic interest, as this bird does not come in contact with the farmer's crops.

For investigating the food of the species 176 stomachs were available. They were collected during the seven months from April to October, and represent 18 States, the District of Columbia, and Canada. The food separates into 57.27 per cent of animal matter and 42.73 per cent of vegetable. The former consists mostly of remains of insects, and the latter of fruit.

Animal food.--Predacious ground beetles (Carabidæ) amount to 0.82 per cent. They are evidently not a preferred food. Beetles in general comprise 14.67 per cent of the food, but no family or other group appears to be distinguished except the Carabidæ, which are conspicuous by their absence. Weevils, or snout beetles, amount to 2.49 per cent, and one stomach contained a specimen of the notorious plum curculio (Conotrachelus nenuphar). A number of other harmful beetles were noted, but none are so well known as the plum destroyer. Ants make up 10.35 per cent and are eaten with great regularity. Hymenoptera other than ants amount to only 3.26 per cent, but are eaten regularly throughout the season. Hemiptera (bugs) were eaten to a small extent (1.30 per cent) in the first four months, but they are not seen after July. Exactly the same may be said of Diptera, which total only 0.85 per cent.

Lepidoptera (caterpillars) are, next to Hymenoptera, the favorite insect food. They were eaten in goodly quantities in every month except October. The average for the season is 11.91 per cent. Grasshoppers appear to some extent in every month except April, the greatest consumption taking place in October (24 per cent), but as only small numbers are eaten in the earlier months the aggregate for the year is only 4.91 per cent. A few other insects of various orders amount to 0.98 per cent. Spiders (6.34 per cent) are eaten regularly and constantly through the season, except that none were taken in October. A few sowbugs, snails, etc. (2.70 per cent), complete the quota of animal food. Following is a list of insects identified and the number of stomachs in which found:

HYMENOPTERA.

Tiphia inornata 1

COLEOPTERA

Elaphrus ruscarius 1 Anisodactylus harrisi 1 Anisodactylus sp 1 Pterostichus lucublandus 1 Hydrobius fuscipes 1 Ips fasciata 1 Byrrhus murinus 1 Dolopius lateralis 2 Limonius æger 1 Corymbites cylindriformis 1 Corymbites spinosus 1 Corymbites tarsalis 1 Corymbites hieroglyphicus 1 Podabrus flavicollis 1 Telephorus bilineatus 2 Telephorus sp 1 Onthophagus sp 2 Atænius cognatus 1 Aphodius sp 3 Dichelonycha sp 2 Serica sericea 1 Lachnosterna hirticula 1 Lachnosterna sp 13 Chrysomela pulchra 3 Chlamys plicata 1 Typophorus canellus 1 Graphops simplex 1 Graphops sp 1 Calligrapha philadelphica 1 Œdionychis quercata 1 Microrhopala vittata 1 Hormorus undulatus 1 Phyxelis rigidus 1 Otiorhynchus ovatus 1 Neoptochus adspersus 1 Cercopeus chrysorrhœus 2 Barypithes pellucidus 2 Sitones sp 2 Phytonomus nigrirostris 2 Conotrachelus nenuphar 1 Conotrachelus posticatus 1 Tyloderma sp 1 Monarthrum mali 1 Xyloteres politus 1

DIPTERA.

Bibio sp 1

Vegetable food.--The vegetable portion of the food of the species is made up of fruit, with a few seeds and a little miscellaneous matter more or less accidental. Fruit collectively amounts to 35.30 per cent, of which 12.14 per cent was thought to be of cultivated varieties and so recorded, while the remainder, 23.16 per cent, was quite certainly of wild species. This percentage of cultivated fruit is more than three times the record of the wood thrush, while the wild fruit eaten is correspondingly less, as the sum total of the fruit consumed is very nearly the same with both birds. From this percentage of domestic fruit one might infer that the veery was, or might be, a serious menace to fruit growing, but no such complaints have been heard, and it is probable that the species is not numerous enough to damage cultivated crops. A close inspection, however, of the fruit eating of the veery removes all doubts. The cultivated fruit, so called, was in every case either strawberries or Rubus fruits, i. e., blackberries or raspberries, and as both of these grow wild and in abundance wherever the veery spends its summer, it is probable that all of the fruit eaten was taken from wild plants, though 12.14 per cent has been conventionally recorded as cultivated.

Besides fruit, the veery eats a few seeds of grasses and weeds and a few of sumac, but none of the poisonous species were found in the stomachs. These seeds (7.25 per cent of the food) were eaten so irregularly as to suggest that they are merely a makeshift taken for want of something better. Rubbish (0.18 per cent), consisting of decayed wood, bits of leaves, plant stems, etc., completes the vegetable food.

Following is a list of the items of vegetable food and the number of stomachs in which found: