of different kinds of food materials; but it is a numerical table, 

 and does not show the quantities of food in terms of bulk or 

 weight. Results upon the latter basis must be left for a labora- 

 tory examination. 



During the short time which these Vireos were under observa- 

 tion we did not see any regurgitation of pellets of undigested 

 food, as has been described by Nuttal ^ and also by Herrick.* 



One of the most interesting facts obtained in the study of these 

 Vireos was that land snails formed a considerable portion of the 

 nestling diet. In the food table (Table II) it is shown that the 

 snails stand fifth in numerical abundance. If we add to this the 

 items which were thought to be snails (without certain identifica^ 

 tion), our total would then place the snail in the third place. 



Some of the snails were specifically identified. Thus twelve 

 snails were recognized as Succinea avara, and all of them were 

 delivered by the female. At visit No. 210 the male carried one 

 specimen of Bifldaria armifera. At other visits the depressed 

 shells were brought, but these were not so easily recognized. For 

 instance, at visit No. 200 the female brought a depressed, pol- 

 ished shell which must have been either Yitrea hammonis or 

 Zomtoides arhoreus, since the only similarly depressed species in 

 the region is Pyranddtda striatella (P. cronkhitei anthomy), 

 which is not polished, but ribbed. 



At visit No. 9 a snail was removed by the mother from the 

 Cowbird 's mouth, and crunched in her beak so that the observers 

 heard the sound. 



Although I have not been able to make an exhaustive search 

 of the literature, I have been unable to find any reference to the 

 use of snails as food by the Vireos. So we cannot say whether 

 the present instance is an idiosyncrasy or a more general habit 

 which has hitherto been overlooked. Perhaps it indicates a 

 greater tendency for ground feeding than hasi been recognized 

 heretofore. Although Herrick ^ makes this significant remark : 

 ''The adult Vireos glean most of their animal food from the 

 foliage and, as might be expected, are great caterpillar destroy- 

 ers, but while feeding their young I frequently saw them explor- 



^Nuttall: Popular Handbook of Birds of the Eastern United States and Canada. 

 Revised edition, 1911. Part I, page 185. 



* Herrick: The Home Life of Wild Birds. Revised edition, 1905. Page 106. 

 ^ Op. cit., page 109. 



30 



