Some Common Birds Useful to the Farmer 
5 
best-known and most widely distributed species is tbe common black-capped 
chickadee* (fig. 8). This bird, or some of its subspecies, occupies the whole of 
that part of the United States north of the latitude of Washington and extends 
into Canada. It is a prolific breeder, usually rearing from six to eight young 
in a brood. 
Examination of 289 stomachs of this chickadee shows that its food consists of 
G8 per cent animal matter (insects) and 82 per cent vegetable matter. The 
former is made up of small caterpillars and moths and their eggs. Prominent 
among the latter are the eggs of the tent-caterpillar moths, both the orchard 
and forest species. As these are two of our most destructive insects, the good 
done by the chickadee in devouring their eggs needs no comment. During the 
winter the chickadee’s food is made up of larvse, chrysalids, and eggs of moths, 
varied by a few seeds, but as spring brings out hordes of flying, crawling, and 
jumping insects, the bird varies its diet by taking also some of these. Flies and 
bugs are the favorites until the weather becomes quite warm, when beetles and 
small wasps also are enjoyed. Among the bugs may be mentioned the plant 
lice and their eggs which are eaten 
in winter. The beetles nearly all be¬ 
long to the group of snout beetles, 
more commonly known as weevils. 
These insects are mostly of small 
size, and nearly all are known to the 
farmer or fruit raiser as pests. Sev¬ 
enteen of them were found in one 
stomach. Grasshoppers do not at any 
time constitute an important element 
of the food of the chickadee, as they 
are too large for so small a bird; 
moreover, they are for the most part 
terrestrial insects, while the bird is 
essentially arboreal. Small wasps 
and ants are eaten to some extent. 
Spiders constitute an important ele¬ 
ment of the food and are eaten at all 
times of the year, the birds locating 
them when they are hibernating in 
winter, as well as when they are ac¬ 
tive in summer. The vegetable food 
of the chickadee consists largely of 
small seeds, except in summer, when 
they are replaced by pulp of wild 
fruit. The wax from the seeds of 
poison ivy is eaten during the winter months, but the seeds themselves are not 
taken. In this respect the chickadee differs from most other birds, which swal¬ 
low the seeds whole; these, after digesting the wax, pass the seeds through the 
alimentary canal, or regurgitate them, and so scatter them broadcast to repro¬ 
duce the noxious plants. 
In the southern part of the country the Carolina chickadee 9 10 and the tufted 
tit 11 replace the black-cap, but their food habits are so similar that there is 
practically no difference in the work done. In the West several other species 
occur; one of the most interesting is the bush tit 12 which, with several sub¬ 
species, occupies the whole Pacific coast region. They are active, social little 
creatures, and except for a short time during the breeding season are found in 
flocks, flitting from tree to tree, busily hunting for insects and their eggs. The 
contents of 66 stomachs of these birds were found to consist mostly of injurious 
insects to the extent of 83 per cent. Of these the most important was a small 
hemipterous insect which amounted to more than half of the stomach contents. 
These insects are of considerable economic importance, as they frequently 
infest grapevines and other plants to a harmful extent. Several stomachs were 
almost exclusively filled with these minute creatures, some containing as many 
as 100 individuals. 
Fig. 3.—Black-capped, chickadee. Length, 
about 5J inches. 
9 P&nthestes atricapilhis. 11 Bceolophus tiicolor. 
10 Penthestes carolincn-sis. 12 Psaltriparus minimus. 
2 
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