NEW HAMPSHIRE COLLEGE 



AamCULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION 



DURHAM 



BOARD OF CONTROL 



Hon. frank JONES, Chairman, Portsmouth. 

 Hon. GEORGE A. WASON, New Boston. 

 CHARLES W. STONE, A. M., Secretary, Andover. 

 Hon. JOHN G. TALLANT, Pembroke. 

 Pres. CHAS. S. MURKLAJ^JD, ex-officio, Durham. 



THE STATION COUNCIL 



Pres. CHAS. S. MURKLAND, A. M., Ph. D., Acting Director. 

 FRED W. MORSE, B. S., Vice-Director and Chemist. 

 FRANK WM. RANE, B. Agr., M. S., Agriculturist and Horti- 

 culturist 



CHARLES H. PETTEE, A. M., C. E., Meteorologist. 

 HERBERT H. LAMSON, M. D., Bacteriologist. 

 CLARENCE M. WEED, D. Sc., Entomoloe;ist . 



ASSISTANTS 



ELWIN H. FORRISTALL, B. S., Superintendent of Fartn. 

 CHARLES D. HOWARD, B. S., Assistant Chemist. 

 ERNEST J. RIGGS, B. S., Assistant Horticulturist. 

 WILLIAM F. FISKE, Assistant Entomologist. 

 CLEMENT S. MORRIS, Clerk. 



BULLETINS OF 1898 



Bulletin 49 — Inspection of Fertilizers. January. 



Bulletin 50 — Dehorning Cattle. Febraary. 



Bulletin 51 — Sweet Corn in New Hampshire. March. 



Bulletin 52 — Growing Muskmelons in the North. April. 



Bulletin 53 — The Farm Water Supply. May. 



Bulletin 54 — The Winter Food of the Chickadee. June. 



The Bulletins of this Station are sent free to any resident of New Hampshire upon 

 application. 



THE WINTER FOOD OF THE CHICKADEE 



BY CLARENCE M. WEED 



Throughout New England, the Chickadee, or 

 Black Capped Tit-mouse, Parus atricapillus^ is 

 one of the most abundant winter birds. It is com- 

 monly distributed over a wide area, in which it 

 may be seen day after day, busily searching the 

 twigs and branches of trees and shrubs. In order 

 to determine more definitely the economic status of 

 the species, the writer recently undertook a study 

 of its winter food, the results of which are recorded 

 in this bulletin. In the investigations I have been 

 indebted to Mr. Ned Dearborn for many specimens, 

 and have been aided in various ways by my assist- 

 ant, Mr. VV. F. Fiske. I am also under obligations 

 Fig. I. Eggs to Dr. L. O. Howard of the U. S. Department of 

 of Apple Agriculture, for the determination of some of the 

 Aphis. food elements. 



The results as a whole show that more than half of the food 

 of the chickadee during the winter months consists of insects, 

 a very large proportion of these being taken in the form of 

 eggs. About five per cent, of the stomach contents consisted 

 of spiders or their eggs. Vegetation of various sorts made up 

 a little less than a quarter of the food, two-thirds of which, 

 however, consisted of buds and bud scales that were believed 

 to have been accidentally introduced along with plant-lice 

 eggs. These eggs made up more than one-fifth of the entire 

 food, and formed the most remarkable element of the bill of 

 fare. It seems to me evident that a large proportion of the 

 bud scales are accidentally introduced into the stomachs of the 

 birds, because most of the aphid eggs are taken from the crev- 



