SOME COMMON BIRDS USEFUL TO THE FARMER. 
5 
Within the boundaries of the United States are some 17 species of titmice, 
with nearly as many races or subspecies, so that there is no portion of the 
country lacking one or more forms. The western coast region is peculiarly rich 
in representatives of the family. In the eastern portion of the country the 
best-known and most widely distributed species is the common black-capped 
chickadee 1 (fig. 3). This bird, or some of its subspecies, occupies the whole of 
tliqt 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 
68 per cent animal matter (insects) and 32 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 larvae, 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. The plum curculio and the 
cotton-boll weevil may be taken as 
fair examples. 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 impor¬ 
tant element 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 active 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 swallow the seeds whole; these, after digesting the wax, pass the seeds 
through the alimentary canal, and so scatter them broadcast to reproduce the 
noxious plants. 
In the southern part of the country the Carolina chickadee 2 and the tufted tit 8 
replace the black-cap, but their food habits are so similar that there is prac¬ 
tically no difference in the work done. In the West several other species occur; 
one of the most interesting is the bush tit 4 which, with several subspecies, 
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, flit¬ 
ting 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 hemip¬ 
terous insect which amounted to more than half of the stomach contents. These 
insects are of considerable economic importance, as they frequently infest grape¬ 
vines and other plants to a harmful extent. Several stomachs were almost 
Fig. 3.—Black-capped chickadee. Length, 
about 5J inches 
1 Penthestes atricapillus. 
2 Penthestes carolinensis. 
3 B(volophus bicolor. 
4 Psnltriparus minimus. 
