Common name.—Hog-nosed snake.
Experimental prey.—Periplaneta americana, U.S.A. (Moore, 1946): Cockroaches containing infective acanthellas of Moniliformis dubius were fed to one snake.
Garter Snake
Experimental prey.—Blatta orientalis, U.S.A. (Rau, 1924).
Class AVES
The cockroach is always wrong when arguing with a chicken.
Spanish proverb (Hartnack, 1939)
Arboreal cockroaches hidden in and under bark are much more likely to be encountered by birds than by other predators, and insectivorous birds undoubtedly consume many more cockroaches than the few records would indicate. Most of the records we have located identify the birds at least by common name. Where possible we have given the scientific names for those birds whose common names are recognizably specific. We have followed the systematic classification of Wetmore (1940).
Figuier (1869) stated that poultry and owls are very fond of cockroaches. Perkins (1913) made the general statement that some of the native birds of Hawaii are partial to the endemic Allacta similis. Asano (1937) stated that in Japan natural enemies of cockroaches may be found in the Galliformes, Strigiformes, Passeriformes, and Piciformes. Although Lederer (1952) successfully fed newly molted Periplaneta americana to insectivorous birds in the Zoological Garden, Frankfurt am Main, Blattella germanica were preferred by these birds. The following records are of specific birds feeding on cockroaches.