FOOD HABITS OF SOME WINTER BIRD VISITANTS. 15 



COMMON REDPOLL (Acanthis linaria). 

 (Plate III). 



The hardy little redpolls breeding in the far north and coming 

 south into the United States only during the winter months may be 

 readily recognized by their sparrow-like appearance and bright red 

 cap. Usually a small percentage of the flocks show on their breasts 

 more or less of the red that marks the adult males. These birds 

 appear as irregular winter visitors in the Northern States; during 

 some of the visitations they are very abundant. 



For the stud}^ of this species 557 stomachs, collected in 15 States. 

 Canada, and Alaska, were available. Of these, 550 were collected 

 during the seven months from October to April inclusive, and the 

 remaining 7 were scattered through the other five months. 



The summer stomachs, collected in Canada, contained 25 per cent 

 animal and 75 per cent vegetable food. The animal food consisted 

 largely of spiders, ants, and flies, and the vegetable of seeds of 

 various weeds and grasses. As the latter were the same as in the 

 winter food, they will not be separately discussed. 



Animal food is a negligible quantity during the winter months. 

 One bird collected in March had eaten small cocoons (probably 

 Tineidae) to the extent of 96 per cent of the food; and a second, 

 taken in December, had made a meal on fly larvae and eggs of bugs. 

 A few scattered fragments of other insects in various stomachs 

 completed the animal food. 



The vegetable food, 99.61 per cent of the total, consisted of weed 

 seeds and seeds of birch and alder. The latter furnished the largest 

 single item of food, 34.62 per cent of the total. A large series of 

 stomachs from New Hampshire and a second series from Ontario 

 contained little besides alder seeds. Various weed seeds amounted 

 to 51.66 per cent of the food. Eagweed (Ambrosia) , lambs-quarters 

 (Chenop odium) , pigweed (Amaranthus) , smartweed (Polygonum), 

 and catnip (Nepeta cataria) were taken most frequently. Ragweed 

 is a favorite food of the species ; it was found in 207 stomachs and 

 amounted to 24.7 per cent of the total. The stomachs containing 

 these seeds were collected in many localities throughout the North- 

 ern States and show that the birds feed on this weed wherever found. 

 On the other hand, practically all the birch and alder seeds found 

 in 185 stomachs were from only three places. Of the total food, 

 11.81 per cent consisted of seeds of lambs-quarters and 4.79 per cent 

 seeds of pigweed. Seeds of grasses and a few other seeds, fruits, and 

 rubbish composed the remainder of the food. 



Food items of the common redpoll, identified to the fienus or specie*, as deter- 

 mined by the examination of 551 stomachs. 



[The figures indicate the number of stomachs in irhieh the items were found.] 



Vegetable Food. 



Poaceae. 



Chaetochloa viridis (green 

 foxtail) 1 



Chaetochloa sp. (foxtail 



grass) — 9 



Phleum pratense (timothy)-- 2 

 Panicum sp. (switehgrass) — 1 



Cyperaceae. 



Carex sp. (sedge) 4 



Salicaceae. 



Salix sp. (willow) (buds)___ 3 

 Betulaceae. 



Betula sp. (birch) 110 



Alnus incana (speckled alder) 4 



