Relation of Summer Birds to Western Adirondack Forest 425 



Dr. B. H. Warren found flowers of hickory in 11 Grosbeak stom- 

 achs, those of beech in 26, maple in 3, and other blossoms in 23 

 stomachs collected during May in Pennsylvania. McAfee ('08, 

 p. 39) notes that no appreciable damage ensues from the bird's 

 habit of feeding on the flowers of forest trees, since the fruits of 

 these trees are of little economic value. " Moreover, it is noticeable 

 that the fruit-producing or pistillate flowers are not the ones pre- 

 ferred, but the sterile staminate ones. These are produced in count- 

 less millions, and wither and fall away after a short season." 



It is in autumn that the beech becomes really valuable to birds, 

 for it produces the only nut fruit available in the Adirondack 

 region ; hence in the fall it attracts a class of feathered residents 

 that otherwise might not be present at that time. White-breasted 

 Nuthatches, Red-headed Woodpeckers, the Bronzed Grackle, Crow, 

 Flicker, Wood Duck and Blue Jay eat them; — in fact, beech nuts 

 in the absence of acorns, must serve as the main support of Blue 

 Jays in the Adirondacks during the fall and winter. Approximately 

 three-fourths of the annual food supply of the Blue Jay is vegetable 

 matter, the greater part of which is mast. Merriam ('78, p. 124) 

 reports that Red-headed Woodpeckers subsist almost exclusively on 

 beech nuts, both green and ripened. "It is truly a beautiful sight," 

 he exclaims, " to watch these magnificent birds, together with their 

 equally abundant cousins, the Yellow-bellied Woodpeckers, creeping 

 about after the manner of the Warblers among the small branches 

 and twigs which bend low with their weight while picking and 

 husking the tender nuts." Mrs. Fanny Eckstorm ('01, p. 57) re- 

 ports that in Maine the Red-heads not only eat beech nuts in the 

 fall, but store them up for the coming winter; and she adds the 

 Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers to the list. 



The Hemlock and the Birds. The hemlock is a handsome tree 

 in its maturitv, although usually less tall than the remaining pines. 

 Originally it flourished extensively throughout the Adirondacks, but 

 in the lumbered regions' has practically disappeared except in the 

 present second growth. It has an advantage in relation to its bene- 

 fit to birds in its preference for streamsides and moist cool ravines, 

 where birds naturally congregate because food is most abundant 

 there, as well as good bathing places. Among those partial to the 

 hemlocks are the Kinglets, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Chickadee, Win- 

 ter Wren, about all the local Warblers, the Junco, Pine Siskin, Gold- 

 finch, Purple Finch, Canada Jay and the two species of Crossbill. 



The fruit of the hemlock is a small cone, usually less than an inch 

 long, with thin, persistent scales, and matures the first year. In 

 late summer the seeds begin to ripen, and thenceforth the hemlock 

 is regularly resorted to by such birds as feed on conifer seeds in 

 general, most of them winter residents. Dr. Mearns says in his 

 "Birds of the Hudson Highlands" ('79, p. 204): "I used fre- 

 quently to visit a certain dense grove of hemlocks, that was con- 

 stantly inhabited by large flocks of Crossbills of both species, for 

 the purpose of watching their singular habits. The White-wings 



