58 FOOD i,i WKST YIU.MMA BIRDS 



It has been found that in some places they eat many of the berries 

 of the red cedar and the mountain ash. In the mountains where these 

 birds are always common in summer time and where the "bird" cherry 

 abounds I have no doubt that the birds act as a distributing agency 

 for the seeds of this wild fruit tree. Thus the seeds are scattered 

 everywhere, and when the forest is cut over or burned over, they spring 

 up and immediately a new forest growth is begun. Though some valu- 

 able fruit is destroyed by these birds, much good is done in the manner 

 just indicated and many harmful insects are consumed. On the morn- 

 ing of June -8, 1914, I sat by our camp fire on the border of the great 

 Cranberry Glades. Some "bird" cherry bushes were growing near by 

 and the branches of these had several small nests of the tent cater- 

 pillar. As I sat listening and watching a Cedar Bird flew into the bushes, 

 immediately tore open one of the nests of these destructive Sj sects 

 and ate three of the young caterpillars. This took place so near at 

 hand that I saw the whole performance clearly. I find that other ob- 

 servers accredit the Cedar Bird with eating elm leaf beetles, grasshop- 

 pers, crickets, inhneumon files, crane flies, lacewing flies and cutworms. 

 In Farmer's Bulletin No. 54, page 38, Prof. Beal speaks of investigations 

 concerning the food-habits of this bird made by the Biological Survey 

 of the United States Department of Agriculture. He says, "In 152 

 stomachs examined animal matter formed only 13 per cent, and vegetable 

 matter 87 per cent, showing that the bird is not wholly a fruit eater. 

 With the exception of a few snails, all the animal food consisted of 

 insects, mainly beetles all but one more or less noxious, the famous 

 elm leaf beetle being among the number. Bark or scale lice were found 

 in several stomachs, while the rest of the animal food was made up 

 of grasshoppers, bugs, and the like. Three nestlings had been fed 

 almost entirely on insects. Of the 87 per cent, of vegetable food, 74 

 per cent, consisted entirely of wild fruit or seeds and 13 of cultivated 

 fruit, though a large part of the latter was made up of blackberries' and 

 raspberries, which may or may not have represented cultivated varieties. 

 Cherry stealing is the chief complaint against this bird, but of the 

 152 stomachs only 9, all taken in June and July, contained any remains 

 of cultivated cherries, and these aggregated but 5 per cent, of the 

 year's food. As 41 stomachs were collected in these months, it is 

 evident that the birds do not live to any great extent on cultivated 

 cherries." 



The Vireos. 



As suggested in the opening paragraph of this chapter the Vireos 

 are obscure birds, their plumage being olive-green, gray or brown with 

 a few insignificant markings, the under parts of all being white or nearly 

 white, though in the case of the Yellow-throated Vireo the throat and 

 breast are rather bright yellow. In general behavior the Vireos are 

 much like the Warblers, and nearly all of our species are woodland 

 birds. They build pensile nests, are quite musical and are far less 

 shy than some of our other forest birds. One can approach so near 

 a female Red-eyed Vireo, when she is on her nest, that the rich ruby- 



