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THE OOLOGIST. 



Devoted to Birds and Birds' Eggs 



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THE OOLOGIST, Utica, N. Y. 



MAY, 1876. 



THE ADAPTATION OF FOOD TO 



DIFFERENT SPECIES OF 



BIRDS. 



'T^HE characteristics and habits of birds 

 -*- differ in different species, but as a rule, 

 all tlie direct species of a family constitute 

 a group alike in habits and characteristics, 

 and all feeding mainly upon one general 

 substance ; but this is observed extensively 



also with the several families constituent to 

 certain orders. All birds however, are 

 subject to a change in the substance of sus- 

 tenance for various reasons, and Avhen we 

 say that such a bird lives upon caterpillars 

 and insects, we indicate that such consti- 

 tutes its main food,— such part of its sub- 

 sistence which others of its family feed up- 

 on in common ; though it not unfrequently, 

 yes, habitually, devours other substances 

 equally as substantial. Naturalists can in- 

 variably determine by the beak alone, of a 

 bird, to what order it belongs, of what fam- 

 ily it is a member, and in not a few cases, 

 to what it owes its origin as a species ; the 

 beak of the bird, to use a figurative expres- 

 sion, is the center of characteristic ; it is a 

 key to its habits. When a new bird is dis- 

 covered, a casual glance at its beak and 

 feet will tell to what family it is tributary ; 

 its other characteristics are determined by 

 the items of its discovery and its remaining 

 order and family points. 



A person studied in ornithology, can eas- 

 ily decide by the form and strength of a 

 bird's beak, upon wliat it depends for food. 

 Take for instance a Warbler. It is a glean- 

 er, evidently ; its bill is neither adapted to 

 digging in the ground nor boring in trees ; 

 nor does it indicate in any way a raptorial 

 bird or a seed eater. The nearest approach 

 is the Flycatcher. Its habits combine both 

 those of the Warbler to a certain degree 

 and those of its true family. It will be ob- 

 served, that the habits of the Wrens, Fly- 

 catchers, Thrushes and Swallows are akin 

 to those of the Warblers, but the latter pos- 

 sess the one point pre-eminent above others, 

 of gleaning, as we term it. They are all 

 insect eaters, yet their method of obtaining 

 food is in some particular different, though 

 not always apparent, and this characteristic 

 and the intervention of some minor points, 

 — among which size figures the most prom- 

 inent — determines the dissimilarity, else all 

 would be recognized as a grand collective 

 unit — a family. The difference between 

 the larger birds is more apparent. The bird 

 of prey and larger wading bird are as het- 

 erogeneous as could well be imagined. The 



