^°8^^1 Sa'!<!VERSO>!, F'ood 0/ JVui/iaic/ies fif/f/ Chickadees. 149 



Abundance. 



The aliundance of the individuals or aggregate niiniljcr per 

 square mile is very difficult to determine. I generally secured 

 about three for every two miles travelled. As I generally covered 

 a radius of a quarter-mile each way from the straight line over the 

 country travelled, I should think about five per square mile would 

 be a fair average for this portion of the State. This would also, 

 without doubt, be a fair sample of the greater part of the State, 

 as there is only a moderate amount of bird life in this section. 

 At Ithaca, N. Y., Mr. F. H. King found one for every two miles 

 travelled. 



It is to be regretted that I have been unable to secure any 

 specimens from any infested orchard, so as to ascertain whether 

 or not they will eat the most abundant food offered them. 



Partial Dofnesticaiion. 



They have become very tame upon the campus and frequent 

 the doors of the boarding-clubs; where they feed upon the refuse 

 scraps. A pair of these have frequently been seen upon a porch- 

 roof below my window, where they were feeding on the meat left 

 in walnut shells, fruit, parings, and other refuse dropped there, 

 and they would often come up and perch on the window sill. 

 This would go to show that where protected, they would become 

 permanent residents, quite soon, as they are not naturally of a 

 timid disposition. Many authorities consider them highly bene- 

 ficial, in fact class them with the Chickadees, but with the excep- 

 tion of their being found eating Mytalaspis pomorii7ji by Professor 

 Forbush in Massachusetts, there seem to be no satisfactory notes 

 or data upon which to base this assumption. 



Value. 



Though, in view of these facts, I should desire to experiment 

 somewhat with them in an infested orchard, before declaring them 

 to be merely neutral, yet from all the data secured there would 



