190 BULLETIN OF WISCONSIN NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. VOL. 2. NO. 4 
feeders are much more readily found than animal-feeders, which 
is not at all surprising, since the proper kind of animal food is 
very scarce during the winter. 
We may classify the food of birds according to the follow- 
ing table : 
1. Food accessible only in summer. 
A. Animal food: most insects — adults, larvas, 
eggs ; myriopods, crustaceans, molluscs, worms, batra- 
chians, reptiles, fishes. 
B. Vegetable food : all soft fruits, flowers, leaves 
and all green vegetation. 
2. Food accessible summer and winter. 
A. Animal food: birds, mammals (in limited 
numbers), a very few spiders and insects. 
B. Vegetable food: buds, seeds and nuts in abun- 
dance, a few berries. 
An examination of this table will show that both the animal and 
vegetable foods accessible in winter will not be accessible except 
to such birds as are especially adapted to obtain them. Hawks and 
owls are adapted to feed upon birds and mammals, themselves 
winter residents ; the chickadee, nuthatch and brown creeper — 
which we might call our winter insect-feeders — are adapted to 
feed upon such food as they obtain by prying about in the crev- 
ices of tree trunks, fences and stone piles, where insects and spi- 
ders are lodged in abundance; the crossbills, linnets, grosbeaks, 
grouse and quail are adapted to feed upon seeds and buds. None 
of the strictly summer residents are physically capable of captur- 
ing birds and mammals. Among the insect-feeders that are sum- 
mer residents we have, roughly speaking, three classes: (i) 
Such as obtain most of their food upon the wing, as the swal- 
lows and flycatchers; (2) such as obtain it largely upon the 
ground, as the meadow lark, and (3) such as obtain it largely 
from among the boughs and leaves of trees, as the warblers and 
vireos. Of these we cannot say that any are adapted to obtain 
food with the methods employed by the winter insect-feeders. 
So, too, with the other animal-feeders, such as are represented by 
the snipe and plover — in winter time their food is covered by 
snow and ice. The vegetable food accessible in winter, chiefly 
buds and seeds, is again of such a nature that unless a bird be 
especially adapted to obtain it he cannot remain here over winter. 
He needs must be a bird with a strong bill and well developed 
muscles to operate this in order to obtain a subsistence from the 
buds and seeds that are at all abundant in winter. 
