92 THE WINTER FOOD OF THE CHICKADEE 



a moth and pupa, 12 per cent. ; the winter cases of a tineid, 3 per cent. ; 

 sumach berries 7, and undetermined material, 26 per cent. The 

 third specimen was remarkable for the number of insect eggs which 

 it had eaten. There were 121 good-sized eggs of aphides and 147 

 small eggs of aphides, the two together making 52 per cent, of the 

 total food; in addition there were 20 reduviid eggs, making 9 per 

 cent. ; 15 round black and white eggs with a recticulate surface, 9 per 

 cent. ; and 15 oval, pointed, white eggs, making 5 per cent. Spiders 

 and their cases made 6 per cent. ; a lepidopterous larva, 3 per cent. ; a 



beetle larva, 4 percent. ; a lepidopter- 

 ^^^ ^.^fcg^h ous and hymenopterous cocoon, i per 



cent, each ; five small larvae, proba- 

 bly dipterous, 5 per cent. ; bud scales, 

 I per cent., and undetermined mate- 

 rial, 4 per cent. 

 -^^ xY-' ' The next specimens studied were 



three birds taken at i p. m. March 

 Fig. 10.— Nightflying moth {Sco^elo- 4th, in small trees in a pasture. They 

 soma). Eaten by chickadees ^^'^^^ l^een feeding leisurely in trees or 



shrubs of birch, apple, alder, cedar, 

 and barberry. Two of these had eaten many plant-lice eggs, and many 

 other insects, while a third had eaten a variety of insects. 



A chickadee taken about 2 p. m. March 4th in a small lot of pine in 

 a pasture contained the following : Pupa of a lepidopterous insect, 1 1 

 per cent. ; a lepidopterous larva, 16 per cent. ; a spider, 10 per cent. ; 

 small hymenopterous cocoons, 24 per cent, ; bud scales, 6 per cent. ; 

 sumach fruits, 8 per cent., and 25 per cent, was undetermined. About 

 an hour later another bird was shot in a growth of hemlocks. " The 

 circumstances,'' according to Mr. Fiske's notes, " were quite pecu- 

 liar, the bird having flown to the ground and being in the act of 

 picking at a piece of dead bark which had fallen from a tree. It was 

 killed instantly, and when picked up had scarcely moved, except to 

 open its wings a little. It had been picking at a nest of spiders' eggs, 

 and the bill was still full of eggs, and in almost the precise position 

 which the bird had assumed in the act of eating." The food record of 

 this specimen was not, however, a very full one: In addition to the 

 spider eggs the bird had swallowed there were aphid eggs i per cent. ; 

 bud scales, 32 per cent. ; sumach fruits, 8 per cent., and 45 per cent, 

 could not be determined. 



About 4 : 30 p. m. March 4th, five chickadees were taken in an open 

 pasture in which were many scattered trees. The birds were busily 

 feeding, and had been noticed on apple, barberry, poplar, hemlock, 

 elm, willow, birch, beech, and oak. The food contents are indicated 

 in the following summaries : 



No. I. Pieces of sumach fruit, .46; eggs of aphides, .11 ; an insect 

 larva, .21; spider's web, .08; eggs of insects, .04; feather, .01; 

 undetermined arthropods, .04; undetermined material, .05. 



No. 2. Stomach very full: aphid eggs, .23; spider eggs and egg- 

 sac, .06; leaf-hopper ['Jassida:), .03; insect eggs, .05 (i per cent, of 

 them thought to be those of the forest tent caterpillar Clisiocampa 



