Depew eA Celis GaNi a B) USL Bali DN el 
all color film from the southernmost specks of land in the Great Florida 
Reef, the Dry Tortugas Islands, through the middle west, to the glaciers of 
northwestern Montana. Included will be such things as the story of old 
Fort Jefferson, slow motion shots of sooty terns in flight, the home life 
of the scarlet tanager, and activities of such alpine dwellers as the whistling 
marmot and white-tailed ptarmigan. Members, their friends and families, 
are invited. 
ft ft ft 
What Birds Eat 
By C. O. DECKER 
WE ARE all familiar with the common sparrow and have watched him 
picking up grain and seeds; we have wondered at the skill and persistence 
of the robin in finding and extracting the earthworm from our grass plots; 
many of us have seen the osprey “strike” for his fish; the woodpecker 
drilling for the boring insects is a common sight; but how many of us have 
thought of all the different substances which birds find desirable as food? 
In the first place we must know that even our most familiar bird 
friends require a more varied diet than we usually think. Seed-eaters, 
insectivorous species and the predators must all have certain mineral salts, 
such as those from which they may derive calcium phosphate for the bones 
and calcium carbonate for the shells of their eggs. The gravel and pebbles 
that are found in their crops are not to be considered in this as they are 
taken only for the grinding effect of the hard surfaces. But few, or very 
few, species limit themselves in their diets as we unconsciously limit them 
in our thoughts. 
Vegetable-feeders form a very large portion of the birds. There are 
the fruit- and grain-eaters, and those which feed almost entirely on buds, 
leaves, berries, nuts, nectar, sap, and even pollen. It is to this class of 
feeders that farmers and gardeners voice the greatest objection and whose 
destruction they are most apt to advocate. A good share of the bill of fare 
of the Arctic grouse, or ptarmigan, is made up of lichens. Certain plants 
have even been named for the birds which are especially partial to them, 
for example, duckweed and partridge berry. On the other hand, some 
species of birds have acquired local names from food associations, such as 
the cherry bird (cedar waxwing), pea bird (Baltimore oriole), and rice 
bird (bobolink). In turn the plants may affect the lives of the birds, as in 
the case of the goldfinch, the nesting of which is delayed until the ripening 
of the thistle, upon the seeds of which it feeds and the down of which goes 
into the making of its nest. In eating all of these vegetable foods the birds 
must necessarily consume quantities of the insects which are associated with 
them. We may not be too certain that the sapsucker is not as much con- 
cerned with the insects drawn by the flow of sap as by the sap itself. 
Insects form practically the sole food of scores of species of birds and 
enter into the diets of hundreds. There is probably not a single group of 
insects that does not suffer from the appetite of some species of bird. The 
eggs and larvae are dug and pried out by woodpeckers, nuthatches and 
