FOOD HABITS OF SOME WINTER BIRD VISITANTS. 19 



stomachs collected in New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, and On- 

 tario. He found that seeds of ragweed (Ambrosia), pigweed 

 (Amaranthus) , and grain formed the chief foods. The present 

 report is based on the examination of 461 stomachs taken in 11 

 States, Alaska, and 5 Provinces of Canada, representing every 

 month of the year. Of these, 418 were collected in the seven months 

 from October to April inclusive, this being the period during which 

 the birds appear in the United States. The 43 stomachs collected 

 during the remaining five months came from the Pribilof Islands, 

 northern Saskatchewan, northern Ontario, and northern Quebec. 



The food of the snow bunting during the seven months in which it 

 may be found in this country is designated in this bulletin as winter 

 food, while that taken during the other five months of the year 

 will be called summer food, although neither term is strictly ac- 

 curate. 



Winter food. — In the examination of the 418 stomachs collected 

 during the winter period it was found that 3.42 per cent of the 

 food was animal and 96.58 per cent vegetable. The animal food was 

 taken exclusively in March, October, and November. One stomach 

 taken in March contained five clover-root curculios (Sitona his- 

 pididus) , which formed 52 per cent of the contents. This, together 

 with a few other beetle fragments in other stomachs, formed 0.88 

 per cent of the food in the 73 stomachs collected in this month. 

 Fragments of caterpillars and bugs in three stomachs constituted 

 0.37 per cent of the food, while spiders, sowbugs, and miscellaneous 

 animal matter in three stomachs formed 0.86 per cent of the food. 



Of 24 birds collected in October, 7 had eaten animal food to 

 the extent of 13.54 per cent of the total for the month. Two had 

 eaten beetles to the extent of 0.21 per cent of the monthly food. One 

 October bird collected in Labrador had eaten at least 60 dipterous 

 larvae, which constituted the entire stomach contents. Two Ontario 

 birds had each made 60 per cent of their meal on caterpillars, while 

 another from the same locality had eaten nothing else. The insect 

 food of the four last-mentioned October birds, together with that 

 of three others which had taken small quantities, constituted 13.33 

 per cent of the monthly food. 



Of 27 birds collected in November, 12 had taken animal food of 

 various kinds in small quantities. Beetles formed 0.85 per cent of 

 the food of these birds; other insects (chiefly caterpillars) made up 

 6.26 per cent, and spiders and miscellaneous animal matter 0.96 

 per cent, or a total of 8.07 per cent. 



A large variety of seeds constituted the 96.58 per cent of vegetable 

 food during the winter period. The character of this food varied 

 with the locality rather than the season. Thus, a large number of 

 birds collected in Wisconsin at various times over a number of 

 vears had all fed extensively on the seeds of foxtail grass (Chaeto- 

 chloa), ragweed (Ambrosia), goosefoot (Ohenopodium), and pig- 

 weed (Amaranthus) . Birds collected on Shelter Island, N. Y., 

 under similar conditions had fed extensively on grass seed ; while a 

 large number collected around Hudson Bay had fed largely on 

 grasses of other species. A number of April birds from Saskatche- 

 wan had eaten little but seeds of sedge and wheat, the latter waste 

 grain picked up about straw stacks. 



