. Bulletin. Agriculture -- New Hampshire. THE WINTER FOOD OF THE CHICKADEE BY CLARENCE M. WEED. Throughout New England, the Chickadee, or Black Capped Tit-mouse, Pariis atricapillus^ is one of tlie most abundant winter birds. It is com- monly (hstributed 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 ill this bulletin. In the investigations I have been indebted
. Bulletin. Agriculture -- New Hampshire. THE WINTER FOOD OF THE CHICKADEE BY CLARENCE M. WEED. Throughout New England, the Chickadee, or Black Capped Tit-mouse, Pariis atricapillus^ is one of tlie most abundant winter birds. It is com- monly (hstributed 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 ill 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 obligfations Fig. I. Eggs to Dr. I^. O. Howard of the U. S, Department of of Apple Agriculture, for the determination of some of the Aphis. r ] 1 ir lood 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-. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station. [Hanover, N. H. ] : New Hampshire Agricultu
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