CHAPTER III. 

 THE VEGETABLE FOOD OF BIRDS. 



A comprehensive survey of the feeding habits of birds 

 leads to the conclusion that the common terms vegetivorous 

 and insectivorous have but a relative significance. They 

 imply predominance in a given diet rather than an exclusive 

 restriction to it. We cannot indicate a single finch, grouse, 

 or pigeon — the most exclusive of the vegetarians — and say 

 that it never eats insects, while on the other hand, after being 

 assured that swallows and flycatchers — the most persistent of 

 the insect hunters — sometimes eat berries, we cannot feel jus- 

 tified in maintaining upon purely negative evidence that any 

 of the so-called insectivorous birds never eats vegetable food. 



The vegetation eaten by birds may conveniently be con- 

 sidered under three heads, — namely, fruits, foliage, and roots. 

 Under the first would be included all seeds and seed-bearing 

 products of plants ; they may be subdivided into seeds and 

 achenes, nuts, and fleshy fruits. Under the second head 

 would be comprised leaves, buds, and blossoms ; while the 

 third would include roots and root products. 



The largest proportion of the seeds eaten by birds are pro- 

 duced by herbs, most of which are useless, while many of them 

 are noxious weeds. The quantity of pestiferous seeds thus 

 annually destroyed is enormous, and man is deeply indebted 

 to the birds that destroy them. The great group of many- 

 flowered plants — the order Composite — supplies food for a 

 multitude of small finches. Early in the season the downy 

 heads of the dandelion call sparrows and goldfinches to 

 lawns and road-sides. A little later horse-weeds and thistles 

 furnish similar food to the same hungry company. The 

 ragweed, which springs up unbidden everywhere, is perhaps 



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