Identifier: foodour00felb (find matches)
Title: Food of Our More Important Flycatchers
Year: 1912 (1910s)
Authors: F.E.L. Beal
Subjects: Food--Birds--Insect--Flycatchers.
Publisher: Washington : U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Biological Survey
Contributing Library: University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Florida, George A. Smathers Libraries with support from LYRASIS and the Sloan Foundation

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ly belowtlie average. A few miscellaneous insects, such as dragon flies,caddis flies,and ephemerids, amount to 2.39 per cent, and while noteaten extensively were taken to some degree in every month. vSpiders constitute quite a steady article of the phoebes diet.Ticks and millepeds also are eaten. None of these creatures can betaken when they are on the vAwg, as they can not fly, but spiders maysometimes be picked up when they are sailmg through the air upheldby tlieir gossamer threads or they may be found on the top of a tallreed as the bird flies past. But ticks and millepeds must be takenfrom tlie ground or some other surface. The aggregate of thesecreatures for the year is 5.78 per cent. March is the month of greatestconsumption with 11.04 per cent, but April stands nearly as high,while every month shows a fair percentage except June, which hasbut 1 per cent. Spidei-s were found in 76 stomachs, millepeds in 7, \ Biil. 44, Biological Survey, U. S. Dept of Agriculture, Plate IV. ^^^E
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^*.r^^ri <^-^^ Phoebe i PHCEBE. 33 wood ticks (Ixodes scapularis) in 2, and a cattle tick (Margaroptcsannulatus) in 1. Maj. Ben dire says: Dr. Ralph t^lls me that in Florida the phoebe frequently alights on the backs ofcattle and follows them aroimd, catching the flies on these animab and fluttering abovethem in search of insects. This may possibly explain the presence in the stomachs of suchunlooked-for creatures as ticks. The stomachs from which the tickswere taken were collected in Florida. The following animal food was identified in the stomachs: HYMENOPTERA. MegachiU sp 1 Andrena ep 2 Halictus sp 4 Crabro sp 1 Vespa Tnaculata 1 Chrysis sp 1 Myzine sp 3 Myrmica scabrinodis 1 Ap?i3enogaster ep 3 Camponotus pennsylranicus 3 Ichneumon sp 1 Cryptus sp 4 Mesostenus sp 1 Ophion sp 2 Campoplex sp 1 Limnerum sp 1 Paniscus Bp 1 Exetastes sp 1 COLEOPTERA. Cicdndela 6-guttata Cicindela l6-punctata... Cicindela repanda Pterostichus ep Amara exarata Amara sp Platynus 4-dentatus Platynus sp

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