UTILITY OF BIRDS IN WOODLANDS. 93 



we search woods and fields, along walls and on bushy hill- 

 sides, we may be surprised in certain years to find wild 

 cherry trees everywhere. When they are rendered conspic- 

 uous by the caterpillar webs they bear, we see how they are 

 scattered through the woods, where birds that fed upon the 

 fruit dropped the stones as they flew. It is a law of nature 

 that the destroyer of the fruit is also the distributer of the 

 seed. 



When first I found the nest of the Wood Thrush, some 

 thirty-fiVe years ago, I noticed that after the young had flown, 

 a little heap of cherry stones, polished clean and white, was 

 left in the nest. I did not know at the time how the birds 

 were able to do this. On Oct. 21, 1890, Mr. Thomas 

 Proctor wrote me that he had seen similar collections of 

 cherry stones in the nests of the Wood Thrush, and that by 

 keeping individuals of the species in captivity he had learned 

 that they swallowed cherries whole, taking several in suc- 

 cession and at almost regular intervals ; and that, prior to 

 the next feeding, they expelled the polished stones by the 

 mouth. This is a provision of nature for the distribution 

 of the cherry tree. The pits found in the nest were prob- 

 ably left there by the young birds just before leaving the 

 nest ; but after the birds have flown it is not probable that 

 many pits are left together in the same place except when 

 the birds are at roost. The cherry stones found by Mr. 

 Proctor in the nest were, he said, probably such as are known 

 to botanists as "escapes," or varieties which have escaped 

 from cultivation. Much of the planting of such trees is due, 

 no doubt, to birds ; but wild cherry pits are oftener planted 

 by their agency. Mr. Proctor wrote that he had kept 

 several hundred birds of different species, and that he had 

 come to the conclusion, from observation of their feeding 

 habits, that other Thrushes and Warblers in general reject the 

 larger indigestible portions of their food in this way. 



Mr. Proctor has since then published in The Auk the 

 results of his observations on this subject. The seeds of 

 berries are often expelled or excreted with their vitality 

 unimpaired. Thus birds arc instrumental in extending the 

 growth of the woodlands and thickets in which they dwell. 



