348 BULLETIN 191, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



by Beal (1916, pp 24-26), who examined 210 stomachs. Animal mat- 

 ter composed about 72 per cent, and vegetable matter 28 per cent, of the 

 total contents. Nearly half (44 per c.ent) of the food for the year con- 

 sisted of moths and caterpillars. Bugs appeared to be next in favor 

 among the insects, including stink bugs, shield bugs, leaf hoppers, tree 

 hoppers, plant lice, and scales. Ants, bees, wasps, beetles, cockroaches, 

 and katydids were consumed in small numbers. Spiders were eaten in 

 considerable numbers, comp>osing more than 10 per cent of the total 

 food. The vegetable food consisted principally of seeds of poison ivy 

 (10 per c.ent) and of other unidentifiable seeds (12 per cent). A small 

 quantity of blackberries and blueberries was eaten." 



Judd (1902) says that "seven Carolina Chickadees (Parus caro- 

 Unensis) were taken during February, April, July, and August. Vege- 

 table matter — mulberry seeds, pine seeds, and ragweed seeds — was pres- 

 ent in four stomachs. All the birds had eaten insects. One had eaten 

 1 bee (Andrenidae), 2 ants, 3 insect eggs, 3 spiders, and 3 caterpillars 

 (measuring worms, Geometridae and hairy Arctiidae, which are usually 

 avoided by birds). One of the stomachs examined contained katydid 

 eggs and two others eggs of the wheel-bug." 



The writer has often watched chickadees early in spring feeding on 

 the eggs of certain moths or other insects; these are encased in silky 

 yellow coverings and attached to the under sides of leaves of the live 

 oak. The birds hunt through the trees, inspecting the under sides of 

 the leaves, all the while uttering their soft, conversational notes. The 

 leaves are picked from the twigs and carried to a convenient branch. 

 Then holding the leaf with its feet, the bird tears the silk away and 

 devours the eggs. 



Blincoe (1923) records it as feeding late in summer on the seeds of 

 the redbud tree, "swallowing them as fast as they could be removed from 

 the pods." 



Brackbill (MS.) describes their manner of eating honeysuckle berries, 

 which consists of holding the berry between the feet, as do blue jays, 

 and hammering with their bills. Further, "examination of some of its 

 discards showed them to be drilled through like beads, and but one seed 

 remained in each. It seemed likely that some pulp and skin had been 

 eaten, also." 



Kalter (1932) observed that Carolina chickadees were removing and 

 dissecting flowers of the leaf cup (Polymnia canadensis L.), and "in- 

 vestigation of the flower heads of this plant showed that most of them 

 were infected with the small striped brown larvae of one of the Noctuid 

 moths. The work of these insects seemed to cause the blossoms to rot 

 and turn brown." 



