92 



THE WINTER FOOD OF THE CHICKADEE 



a moth and pupa, 1 2 per cent. ; tlie winter cases of a tineid, 3 per cent. ; 

 sumach berries 7, and undetermined material, 26 per cent. The 

 third specimen was remarl<able for the number of insect eggs which 

 it had eaten. There were 121 good-sized eggs of aphides and 147 

 small eggs of aphides, the two together making 52 per cent, of the 

 total food; in addition there were 20 reduviid eggs, making 9 per 

 cent. ; 15 round black and white eggs with a recticulate surface, 9 per 

 cent. ; and 15 oval, pointed, white eggs, making 5 per cent. Spiders 

 and their cases made 6 per cent. ; a lepidopterous larva, 3 per cent. ; a 



beetle larva, 4 per cent. ; a lepidopter- 



ous and hymenopterous cocoon, I per 

 J ^ y ^ i cent, each ; five small larva, proba- 

 ^ f ^ ' ' 'i '^'y dipterous, 5 per cent. ; bud scales, 



* * i I i 1 ' ' 1 percent., and undetermined mate- 



^^^^^^t^ w 4 P^"^ cent. 



'^^W'^^ ^ '^^^^ spe'^i"''^"-'' studied were 



three birds taken at I p. m. March 

 Fig. 10.— Nightflyiiig moth {Sco/eU- 4th, in small trees in a pasture. They 

 soma). Eaten by chickadees h^-^i been feeding leisurely in trees or 



shrubs of birch, apple, alder, cedar, 

 and barberry. Two of these had eaten many plant-lice eggs, and many 

 other insects, while a third had eaten a variety of insects. 



A chickadee taken about 2 p. m. March 4th in a small lot of pine in 

 a pasture contained the following : Pupa of a lepidopterous insect, 1 1 

 per cent. ; a lepidopterous larva, 16 per cent. ; a spider, 10 per cent. ; 

 small hymenopterous cocoons, 24 per cent. ; bud scales, 6 per cent. ; 

 sumach fruits, 8 per cent., and 25 per cent, was undetermined. About 

 an hour later another bird was shot in a growth of hemlocks. " The 

 circumstances," according to Mr. Fiske's notes, " were quite pecu- 

 liar, the bird having flown to the ground and being in the act of 

 picking at a piece of dead bark which had fallen from a tree. It was 

 killed instantly, and when picked up had scarcely moved, except to 

 open its wings a little. It had been picking at a nest of spiders' eggs, 

 and the bill was still full of eggs, and in almost the precise position 

 which the bird had assumed in the act of eating." The food record of 

 this specimen was not, however, a very full one: In addition to tlie 

 spider eggs the bird had swallowed there were aphid eggs i per cent. ; 

 bud scales, 32 per cent. ; sumach fruits, 8 per cent., and 45 per cent, 

 could not be determined. 



About 4 : 30 p. m. March 4th, five chickadees were taken in an open 

 pasture in which were many scattered trees. The birds were busily 

 feeding, and had been noticed on apple, barberry, poplar, hemlock, 

 elm, willow, birch, beech, and oak. The food contents are indicated 

 in the following summaries : 



No. I. Pieces of sumach fruit, .46; eggs of aphides, .11 ; an insect 

 larva, .21; spider's web, .08; eggs of insects, .04; feather, .01; 

 undetermined arthropods, .04; undetermined material, .05. 



No. 2. Stomach very full: aphid eggs, .23; spider eggs and egg- 

 sac, .06; leaf-hopper {Jassidce), .03; insect eggs, .05 (i per cent, of 

 them thought to be those of the forest tent caterpillar Clisiocampa 



THE WINTER FOOD OF THE CHICKADEE 



93 



disstria); adult flies (Diptera), .06; puparia of flies, .09; lepidopter- 

 ous pupas, .05 ; insects undetermined, .27 ; seed of Polygonaceae, .02 ; 

 bud scales .01 ; undetermined material, .13. 



No. 3. Stomach full. Eggs of aphides, .35; spider eggs and web, 

 .22 ; larvae, believed to be those of the codling moth, .12 ; other lepi- 

 dopterous larva;, .06 ; undetermined insects, .09 ; insect larvcB, .03 ; 

 spider, .04 ; bud scales, .03 ; undetermined material, .06. 



No. 4. Eggs of American tent C3.ter-pi\\ax ( Clisiocatnpa Americana), 

 .06; spider, .16; cocoon of spider, .11 ; aphid eggs, .04; eggs of fall 

 canker worm, .02; beetles. .03; sumach fruits, .44; bud scales, .08; 

 undetermined material, .06. 



No. 5. A large noctuid larva, .44; insect eggs (Reduviidas?), 19; 

 aphid eggs, .06; insect larvas, .08; sumach fruits, .07; bud scales, 

 .06; undetermined material, .10. 



The next specimen was taken March 11 at 10 :3o a. m. in a growth 

 of birch. It contained : aphid eggs, .24 ; geometrid larva, . 1 2 ; beetles, 

 .09; hymenopterous cocoons, .12; spiders and their web, .09; lich- 

 ens, .05; bud scales, .11; and undetermined material, .18. 



On March 26th a chickadee was shot at 8 :3o a. m. It was one of 

 a flock that was apparently emerging for the first time that day from 

 a small grove thickly set with pine trees. There was very little food 

 in the stomach, all of which appeared to be undigested material from 

 the food of the day before. The only recognizable elements were bud 

 scales, spider's silk and pieces of the legs of insects and spiders. 



On March 26th, five chickadees were shot in a sugar orchard, and in 

 apple trees near by. One of them had in its bill when killed the 

 abdomen and part of the wings of the moth represented natural size in 

 Fig. 10 and known to entomologists as Scopelosomaindirecta. 



The food contents of these specimens were as follows : 



No. I. — Moth, .90 [Scopelosoma') ; eggs, probably from the abdomen 

 of moth, .02; aphid eggs, .02; cocoon of spider, .03; undetermined, .03. 



No. 2. — Moth, .27; beetles, .12; spiders, .14; small white egg of 

 an insect, .01; small hymenopterous insect, .01; bark, .12; undeter- 

 mined vegetable tissue, .26; feathers, .or ; undetermined material, .06. 



No. 3. — Noctuid moth, .61; bug {Reduviidce), .03; spider, .16; 

 web of spider, 04 ; undetermined arthropods, .12; undetermined veg- 

 etable matter, .04. 



No. 4 — Three insect larvae, probably lepidopterous, .28; small 

 beetles, .05; bark-lice [Coccida), apparently oyster-shell bark-louse 

 i^Mytilaspis pomorum), .or ; aphid eggs, .01 ; spider, .06; bud scales, 

 .23; bark, .14; undetermined vegetable matter, .22. 



No. 5. — Two lepidopterous larva;, .38; lepidopterous pupa, .32; 

 dipterous larva; .T4; undetermined adult arthropods, .08 ; lichen, .01 ; 

 bud scales, .02; undetermined vegetable matter, .03; feather, .02. 



The last specimens of the winter were taken by Mr. Dearborn at 

 11.00 a. m. on March 29th. They were feeding near the ends of high 

 branches of a large chestnut tree at Northfield, Merrimack Co., New 

 Hampshire. Apparently comparatively little food had been taken that 

 morning, the stomach of the first specimen containing 44 per cent, of 

 bud scales, probably largely left over from the day before, and 30 per 



