FOOD HABITS OF SOME WINTER BIRD VISITANTS. 7 



diet, of which seven stomachs from Ontario filled with these seeds 

 contributed half. Juniper berries and other coniferous seeds, 

 amounting to 4.15 per cent, were mostly obtained by birds collected 

 in Connecticut, and birds from Ontario and Massachusetts had eaten 

 most of the maple (2.78 per cent) and ash (1.25 per cent) seeds 

 taken. 



A great variety of wild fruit contributed 14.84 per cent of the food 

 supply. The fruits most often found and the number of stomachs 

 in which they were identified were thornapples (Crataegus) in 19, 

 dogwood (Cornus) in 38, mountain-ash (S orbits) in 14, huckleberries 

 (Gaylussacia) in 13, blueberries (V actinium) in 8, cro wherries (Em- 

 pet rum nigrum) in 21, and blackhaws (Viburnum) in 7. Most of 

 these fruits were eaten probably for the seeds, as very little pulp was 

 found. The fruit pulp of mountain-ash, crowberries, and blueber- 

 ries, however, was frequently taken. 



Mast amounted to 5.66 per cent of the food and probably was com- 

 posed largely of beechnuts or acorns. Clarence Birdseye has ob- 

 served the species feeding freely on beechnuts, but this does not seem 

 to be a common habit. 



Although some complaint concerning bud eating by the pine gros- 

 beak has been made, stomach examination fails to show that the habit 

 is general. Thirty-eight birds had taken buds (other than those of 

 conifers) in varying quantities, to the extent of 4.72 per cent of the 

 winter diet. A series of stomachs from, Colorado contained buds 

 of willow (Salix), and a few birds from various localities had eaten 

 those of maple (Acer). While these figures show that relatively few 

 buds are eaten by the pine grosbeak, the possibility of local damage 

 is recognized. A large flock of these birds might do considerable 

 injury in an orchard. Such a possibility does not, however, justify 

 a general condemnation of the bird, as local methods of control can 

 be readily adopted. 



Eating frozen apples either for the sake of the seed or pulp is an- 

 other habit which has often been noticed. Stomach examination, 

 even of birds labeled " feeding on frozen apples," fails to confirm 

 these observations, although a few fragments of seeds and pulp not 

 positively identified might have been apple. The pine grosbeak un- 

 doubtedly takes such food, at least occasionally; and if the gullets 

 as well as the gizzards of birds collected while in the act of eating 

 frozen fruit had been preserved, such material would probably have 

 been found. Bits of pine needles, wood, grass, and fragments of 

 unidentified seeds (2.64 per cent) complete the vegetable food. 



The animal food taken in winter is of little importance, amounting 

 to only 0.9 per cent of the total. Fragments of small beetles, hymen- 

 opterans, and flies, together with weevil larvae, are the chief items, 

 and as they were nearly all found in the coniferous buds it seems cer- 

 tain that they were accidentally devoured with such food. 



Summer food. — With only 29 stomachs collected in this season, 

 the material is too scanty to justify monthly averages, and the entire 

 number will be considered together. Of the contents of these stom- 

 achs, 16.17 per cent was animal food and 83.83 per cent vegetable. 



The vegetable food differs from that taken during the winter 

 months chiefly in the absence of maple and ash seeds and in a higher 

 percentage of wild fruit. Bub us seeds and flower buds of pine, which 

 are the staple articles of diet in winter, were found in seven stomachs 



