114 BULLETIN 196, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



substances useful to man. This percentage is canceled by its con- 

 sumption of the following predators: Orthoptera, 2.1 percent; Rhyn- 

 chophora, 2.16 percent; and Lepidoptera, 11.29 percent, making a 

 total of 15.55 percent of food substances in the harmful class. 



During my observations the following foods were fed to young 

 birds: Several species of moths, ants, spiders, caterpillars, mulberries, 

 honeysuckle berries, earthworms, and cankerworms. 



Economically, then, the wood thrush is to be encouraged, for its 

 food habits prove that it is a valuable aid in the destruction of many 

 injurious insects and but few beneficial ones. 



It was observed that soon after their arrival the birds fed from the 

 foliage of the newly leaved trees. In their feeding they sometimes 

 broke off pieces of leaves which fell to the ground. Later most of the 

 feeding was done on the ground. Their presence in an area can often 

 be detected by noticing them turning over leaves with the bill. A 

 letter from D. J. Nicholson to A. H. Howell contains an interesting 

 incident in which the writer saw a wood thrush eating pokeberries 

 by springing up 18 inches and plucking off a berry. He also took a 

 picture of these birds eating fallen gallberries. 



Behavior. — When alarmed, wood thrushes, both adults and young, 

 raise and lower the feathers of the head, giving the appearance of a 

 crest. The young have been observed to do this only just previous 

 to the time for leaving the nest, or after the fear instinct has been 

 developed. 



While incubating and brooding, when the temperature was high, 

 the female lifted her wings from her sides and raised the feathers of 

 her back and sides to allow air to circulate beneath them. She and 

 the young in the nest often sat with mouths open when it was hottest. 



The wood thrushes' reactions to storm and rain were noted by 

 Brackbill (1943) and by the writer. Brackbill observed a female in 

 a heavy downpour. She sat closely, holding her head at an angle of 

 60°, presumably to compress the feathers at the nape of the neck. 

 During a late afternoon storm it became very dark and the male 

 bird I was watching, who had been guarding the nest in the absence 

 of the female, settled on the nest and covered the young. It rained 

 and the wind blew quite hard. During a very heavy wind, Brackbill 

 watched an incubating female. At times the eggs seemed perilously 

 near falling from the nest, as it was tilted by the wind, but the female 

 remained calm. A few times she almost lost her balance. 



[Author's note: When living in our towns and cities, the wood 

 thrush losses much of its natural shyness and timidity. We often 

 see it leave the shelter of the shrubbery or leafy thickets in the more 

 secluded borders of our grounds and come out onto the lawn in search 

 of food, almost as fearless as a robin. It may even visit the bird 



