THE WINTER FOOD OF THE CHICKADEE 
BY CLARENCE M. WEED 
Throughout New England, the Chickadee, or 
Black Capped Tit-mouse, Pai'us atricci pillus, 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. W. 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 
Aphlh ' 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- 
