FOOD OF WEST VIRGINIA BIRDS 



to feast on the more tempting cultivated varieties. In our detailed study 

 of the Robin and Wood Thrush the economic value of the Thrushes will 

 appear. 



The Wood Thrush. 



In the first place, as a representative of this group or family, we 

 shall study the Wood Thrush. There is scarcely a place in West Vir- 

 ginia where this fine songster is not to be found. Indeed I do not recall 

 a single locality that I have visited wherein the Wood Thrush was a 

 stranger. When I climbed, a few years ago, to the top of Spruce Knob 

 I found it there; along the lower river bottoms it is by no means rare; 

 and throughout the hilly interior sections it is in many places quite 

 abundant. The general range of the Wood Thrush includes all the east- 

 ern part of the United States. During the summer time it is found 

 from Ontario and the northern New England States west to the Dakotas. 

 and Texas and south to northern Florida; in winter it is to be found in 

 southern Mexico and the Central American states. As has been said^ 

 it is common in practically every part of West Virginia. 



Food of the Wood Thrush. 



Though much might be said in regard to the song, nesting-habits and 

 general habits of this bird only its food can be discussed here. As is 

 true with all our Thrushes the food of this species consists of fruit and 

 insects. In recent investigations made by the Biological Survey, U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture, 169 stomachs of this species were examined 

 and their contents studied. These birds were killed in the eastern part 

 of the United States and were taken from April to October. It was found 

 that about 60% of the food of these birds consisted of animal matter, 

 mostly insects, while the remaining 40% was of vegetable matter being 

 made up mostly of fruits of various kinds. Among the insects were 

 forty-six different species including such harmful ones as the May- 

 beetle, snout beetles or weevils, click-beetles and the Colorado potato 

 beetle. A few useful insects were found. In addition to the large 

 number of beetles eaten by this species many caterpillars enter inta 

 this bird's summer diet. Prof. F. E. L. Beal says that ants seem to 

 be a rather favorite food with all the birds of the genus HylocicMa and 

 his investigations lead him to say that almost 9% of the entire food 

 of the Wood Thrush consists of ants of various kinds. Flies, bugs, spiders, 

 thousandlegs, snails and earthworms are also eaten. Surely it must 

 be true that great numbers of insects that destroy the foliage of shrubs 

 and trees are destroyed by this bird and its hungry young during the 

 summer season. The fruit-eating habits of this species are very inter- 

 esting. In the stomachs mentioned above Prof. Beal and his assistants 

 found about 25 kinds of wild fruit. His conclusions lead him to say 

 that of the 40% of vegetable matter making up the stomach-contents of 

 these birds more than nine-tenths was fruit, mostly of wild varieties. 

 Prof. Beal says, "Cultivated fruit, or what was thought to be such, was 

 found in stomachs taken from June to September, inclusive. It was 



