THE WINTER FOOD OF THE CHICKADEE 



BY CLARENCE M. WEED 



Throughout New England, the Chickadee, or 

 Black Capped Tit-mouse, Pariis atricapillus^ is 

 one of tlie most abundant winter birds. It is com- 

 monly (hstributed over a wide area, in which it 

 may be seen day after day, busily searching the 

 twigs and branches of trees and shrubs. In order 

 to determine more definitely the economic status of 

 the species, the writer recently undertook a study 

 of its winter food, the results of which are recorded 

 ill this bulletin. In the investigations I have been 

 indebted to Mr. Ned Dearborn for many specimens, 

 and have been aided in various ways by my assist- 

 ant, Mr. W. F. Fiske. I am also under obligfations 

 Fig. I. Eggs to Dr. I^. O. Howard of the U. S, Department of 



of Apple Agriculture, for the determination of some of the 

 Aphis. r ] 1 ir 



lood elements. 



The results as a whole show that more than half of the food 



of the chickadee during the winter months consists of insects, 



a very large proportion of these being taken in the form of 



eggs. About five per cent, of the stomach contents consisted 



of spiders or their eggs. Vegetation of various sorts made up 



a little less than a quarter of the food, two-thirds of which, 



however, consisted of buds and bud scales that were believed 



to have been accidentally introduced along with plant-lice 



eggs. These eggs made up more than one-fifth of the entire 



food, and formed the most remarkable element of the bill of 



fare. It seems to me evident that a large proportion of the 



bud scales are accidentally-introduced into the stomachs of the 



birds, because most of the aphid eggs are taken from the crev- 



