UTILITY OF BIRDS IN WOODLANDS. 93 
we search woods and fields, along walls and on bushy hill- 
sides, we may be surprised in certain years to find wild 
cherry trees everywhere. When they are rendered conspic- 
uous by the caterpillar webs they bear, we see how they are 
scattered through the woods, where birds that fed upon the 
fruit dropped the stones as they flew. It is a law of nature 
that the destroyer of the fruit is also the distributer of the 
seed. 
When first I found the nest of the Wood Thrush, some 
thirty-five years ago, I noticed that after the young had flown, 
a little heap of cherry stones, polished clean and white, was 
left in the nest. I did not know at the time how the birds 
were able to do this. On Oct. 21, 1896, Mr. Thomas 
Proctor wrote me that he had seen similar collections of 
cherry stones in the nests ofthe Wood Thrush, and that by 
keeping individuals of the species in captivity he had learned 
that they swallowed cherries whole, taking several in suc- 
cession and at almost regular intervals; and that, prior to 
the next feeding, they expelled the polished stones by the 
mouth. This is a provision of nature for the distribution 
of the cherry tree. The pits found in the nest were prob- 
ably left there by the young birds just before leaving the 
nest; but after the birds have flown it is not probable that 
many pits are left together in the same place except when 
the birds are at roost. The cherry stones found by Mr. 
Proctor in the nest were, he said, probably such as are known 
to, botanists as “escapes,” or varieties which have escaped 
from cultivation. Much of the planting of such trees is due, 
no doubt, to birds; but wild cherry pits are oftener planted 
by their agency. Mr. Proctor wrote that he had kept 
several hundred birds of different species, and that he had 
come to the conclusion, from observation of their feeding 
habits, that other Thrushes and Warblers in general reject the 
larger indigestible portions of their food in this way. 
Mr. Proctor has since then published in The Auk the 
results of his observations on this subject. The seeds of 
berries are often expelled or excreted with their vitality 
unimpaired. Thus birds are instrumental in extending the 
growth of the woodlands and thickets in which they dwell. 
