FOOD OF WEST VIRGINIA BIRDS 53 



blossoms of certain wild and cultivated fruit trees, though no harm is 

 done in this way. The Goldfinch, which is often called "Beet Bird," 

 "Lettuce Bird" or "Wild Canary," is common all over the State. It is 

 found in such abundance that its food is very important. As some of 

 its names indicate, it is often found feeding upon the leaves of some 

 of cur garden plants, though not in a destructive manner. The seeds 

 of the dandelion, thistle, ragweed and catnip are especially sought for 

 by the Goldfinch. Prof. Forbush says, "Goldfinches feed their young 

 largely on plant lice, caterpillars, small grasshoppers, and beetles. Dur- 

 ing the spring, when unhampered by family cares, and wandering through 

 fields and orchards, where they feed considerably on cankerworms. They 

 sometimes frequent grain fields, where they are said to devour noxious 

 insects, including the Hessian fly. Goldfinches often feed very largely 

 in winter on the eggs of plant lice; this has been observed many times. 

 Mr. Kirkland examined the stomach of one of these birds, and found it 

 contained two thousand, two hundred and ten eggs of the white birch 

 aphid." There is a large number of our plainly colored Sparrows that 

 feed almost entirely on the ground, either in the fields or in thickets. 

 Such Sparrows as the Vesper, Lark, Grasshopper, White-crowned, White- 

 throated, Song, Swamp, Fox and the Slate-colored and Carolina Juncos 

 are terrestrial end feed on such insects and weed seeds as they can 

 gather up on the ground or among the glasses and low shrubbery. So 

 Treat are the numbers of these ground-haunting Sparrows that the sur- 

 face of the ground is thoroughly searched many times each year and 

 vast quantities of hurtful insects and pernicious seeds are gathered 

 and eaten. Prof. Beal says, "Many grasshoppers are eaten, and in the 

 case of the Chipping Sparrow these insects form one-eighth of the 

 food. Grasshoppers would seem to be rather large morsels, but the 

 bird probably confines itself to the smaller species; in deed, this is 

 indicated by the fact that the greatest amount (over 36 per cent) is 

 eaten in June, when the larger species are still young and the small 

 species most numerous. Besides the insects already mentioned, many 

 wasps and bugs are taken. Predacecus and parasitic Hymenoptera and 

 predaceous beetles, all useful insects, are eaten only to a slight extent, 

 so that as a whole the Sparrows' insect diet may be considered bene- 

 ficial." Some grain is eaten by a few of the Sparrows but not to a 

 harmful extent. I have observed the Field Sparrow feeding, to a very 

 limited extent, upon sweet cherries, sour cherries, cultivated grapes, the 

 wild black cherry, wild red cherry, mulberry , service berry, and black- 

 berry. The Chipping Sparrow also feeds upon fruits as follows: Black 

 sour cherry, black sweet cherry, currant, wild red cherry, wild mulberry, 

 service berry, red elder berry and blackberry.. The Carolina Junco, that, 

 interesting subspecies of "Snowbird" that is to be found in the Alle- 

 gheny Mountain regions of the State was observed last summer eating 

 the fruit of the wild red elder berry in the mountains above Pickehs. 

 I have observed many of our other Sparrows eating wild and cultivated 

 fruits in considerable quantities. For instance, the Cardinal was ob- 

 served last season feeding upon the fruit of the cultivated sweet cherry, 

 eour cherry, wild mulberry, bird cherry, wild black cherry, flowering dog- 



