THE VEGETABLE FOOD OF BIRDS. 35 



point of view. Among the many kinds of fruit produced by 

 this family the cherries are most important, as they are eaten 

 by ail birds accustomed to taking fruit of any sort and are to 

 be had in unlimited quantity during more than two months 

 in the year. 



The wild red cherry, which is the lirst to ripen, is least 

 esteemed, though cedar-birds appear to find it quite satisfac- 

 tory. Birds in general, however, eat these far more sparingly 

 than they do the later varieties. Choke-cherries and black 

 cherries form an appreciable percentage of the food of cedar- 

 birds, thrushes, orioles, jays, crows, and grouse from the time 

 the lirst choke-cherries begin to grow brown in midsummer 

 until the rains and frosts of autumn have despoiled the black- 

 cherry trees of the last of their shining loads. Grackles, fly- 

 catchers, sparrows, woodpeckers, and pigeons assist to a lim- 

 ited extent, but cedar-birds and robins are the most persistent 

 devourers, with the flicker a close follower. The large num- 

 bers of cherries consumed as well as the variety of birds 

 involved doubtless depend somewhat on the fact that cherry- 

 trees grow in all sorts of places. The shy grouse and the 

 woodland thrushes, cat-birds, and thrashers are able to get 

 plenty of them without being exposed to the dangers of open 

 ground ; while the familiar robins and cedar-birds, which pre- 

 fer cleared land, find all they want by road-sides and pasture 

 fences. 



Wild strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries are all dear 

 to the avian palate. The first are not so largely eaten as the 

 other two, for the reason that many birds which undoubtedly 

 relish them do not like to hunt for them in the grass. Rasp- 

 berries and blackberries are available to a larger number. 

 Cat-birds, brown thrashers, and sparrows are at home in a 

 brier patch and enjoy the fruits thereof. The ruffed grouse 

 makes a regular practice of living in blackberry thickets while 

 the fruit is on the vines and during that time feeds upon little 

 else. The running blackberries, or dewberries, near the coast 



