2 BULLETIN 280, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
the exception of the solitaire, do not require any greater seclusion 
than that afforded by an acre or two of woodland or swamp. 
The thrushes are largely insectivorous, and also are fond of spiders, 
myriapods, sowbugs, snails, and angleworms. The vegetable portion 
of their diet consists mostly of berries and other small fruits. As a 
family thrushes can not be called clean feeders, for the food eaten 
often contains a considerable proportion of such matter as dead 
leaves, stems, and other parts of more or less decayed vegetation. It 
might be supposed that this was gathered from the ground with 
insects and other food, but investigation shows that much of it has 
a different origin. It was noticed that the setz or spines of earth- 
worms were a very common accompaniment of this decayed vegeta- 
tion. Earthworms themselves are rather rarely found in stomachs, 
although some birds, as the robin, eat them freely. It is well known 
that the food of earthworms consists largely of partially decayed 
vegetable matter found in the soil. Hence it is probable that decayed 
vegetation found in the stomachs of thrushes is the food contained 
in the earthworms when they were swallowed. The tissues of worms 
are quickly digested, leaving the contents of their alimentary canals 
mixed with the hard indigestible setze or spines. 7 
Thrushes of the genus Hylocichla show a very pronounced taste 
for ants, and the average consumption of these insects by the five 
species is 12.65 per cent. Few birds other than woodpeckers show 
so strong a liking for this highly flavored food. Hymenoptera in 
general, including ants, bees, and wasps, are the second largest item 
of insect food. Lepidoptera (caterpillars) stand next as an article 
of thrush diet, while Orthoptera (grasshoppers), which are a favorite 
food with most birds, do not seem to appeal much to the thrushes. 
The thrushes are pronounced ground feeders, and may often be 
seen picking small fruit that has fallen to the ground. The vege- 
table portion of their food (40.72 per cent) is largely composed of 
fruit, which constitutes over 34 per cent of the total food. Of this 
30.88 per cent is made up of wild berries, which outweigh the do- 
mestic varieties with every species. In all, 94 species of wild fruits 
or berries were identified in the stomachs of these birds, although it 
is not always practicable to identify such material unless seeds or 
some other characteristic parts are present. As this is not often 
the case, a considerable portion of the stomach contents must be pro- 
nounced “ fruit pulp” without further identification; thus probably 
many more species are eaten than are recorded. Moreover, in the 
case of some fruits, it is not possible to distinguish species by the 
seeds, so that many species go unrecognized except as to genus. 
Domestic fruits are eaten so sparingly by the thrushes here consid- 
ered as to be of no economic importance. 
