9 2 
THE WINTER FOOD OF THE CHICKADEE 
a moth and pupa, 12 per cent. ; the winter cases of a tineid, 3 percent. ; 
sumach berries 7, and undetermined material, 26 per cent. The 
third specimen was remarkable 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, 1 per 
cent, each ; five small larvae, proba- 
bly dipterous, 5 per cent. ; bud scales, 
1 per cent., and undetermined mate- 
rial, 4 per cent. 
The next specimens studied were 
three birds taken at 1 p. m. March 
Fig. IO.— Nightflying moth {Scopelo- 4th, in small trees in a pasture. They 
soma). Eaten by chickadees had 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, 11 
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 1 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 the 
spider eggs the bird had swallowed there were aphid eggs 1 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. 1. 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 (Jassida:) , .03; insect eggs, .05 (1 per cent, of 
them thought to be those of the forest tent caterpillar CUsioca?npa 
