8 



BULLETIN 280, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



and moderately, and the total for the season was 3.74 per cent of 

 the whole food. Wild fruits or berries of 22 species were found in 

 72 stomachs, distributed through every month of the bird's stay at 

 the north. Beginning with 1.18 per cent in April, the quantity 

 gradually increases to 87.17 per cent in October, when it makes more 

 than five-sixths of the whole food. The average for the season is 

 33.51 per cent. In this investigation Rubus seeds (blackberries or 

 raspberries) are always reckoned as cultivated fruit, though prob- 

 ably most often wild. Besides fruit, a few seeds and rose haws were 

 found, which with a little rubbish complete the vegetable food (40.41 

 percent). 



Following is a list of fruits, seeds, etc.. identified and the number 

 of stomachs in which found : 



Yew berries (Taxus minor) 1 



False Solomon's seal (Smilacina race- 



mosa) 1 



Bayberries (Myrica carolinensis) 1 



Mulberries {Mortis sp.) 10 



Spiceberries (Benzoin wstivale) 5 



Currants (Ribes sp.) 1 



Mountain ash (Pyrus americanus) 2 



Service berries (Amelanchier canaden- 

 sis) 2 



Woodbine berries (Psedera quinque- 



folia) 



Frost grapes (Vitis cordifolia) 



Wild sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis) _ 



Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) 



Rough-leaved cornel (Cornus asperi- 



folia) 



Dogwood (Cornus sp.) 



Black gum (Nyssa sylvatica) 



Huckleberries (Gaylussacia sp.) 



Blueberries (Vaccinium sp.) 



French mulberry (Callicarpa americana) 

 Black elderberries (Sambucus canaden- 

 sis) 



Other elderberries (Sambucus sp.) 



Fruit pulp not further identified 12 



Blackberries or raspberries (Rubus sp.) - IT 



Rose haws (Rosa sp.) 1 



Wild black cherries (Prunus serolina) - 1 



Chokecherries (Prunus virginiana) 7 



Domestic cherries (Prunus cerasus) 4 



Croton (Croton sp.) 1 



American holly (Ilex opaca) 2 



Of the two stomachs not included in the foregoing discussion, the 

 one taken in Florida in January contained 93 per cent of wild fruit 

 and 7 per cent of weevils, wasps, and spiders; the one collected in 

 Alabama in February was entirely filled with animal food, of which 

 88 per cent was caterpillars, 5 per cent May beetles, 6 per cent bugs, 

 and 1 per cent spiders. 



Summary. — The animal food of the wood thrush includes remark- 

 ably few useful insects and contains some very harmful ones, as the 

 Colorado potato beetle and many of the Scarabseidse, the larval 

 forms of which are the well-known white grubs which are a pest 

 to agriculture in preying upon roots of plants. The vegetable 

 portion of the food contains a small quantity of cultivated fruit, but 

 observation shows that the thrush is in the habit of picking up 

 fallen fruit instead of taking it fresh from the tree. The eating of 

 wild fruit has no economic interest except that it serves to distribute 

 the seeds of many shrubs and trees. There is no occasion to dis- 

 criminate against this bird in any way. It should be rigidly 

 protected. 



