. Birds and nature in natural colors : being a scientific and popular treatise on four hundred birds of the United States and Canada . ecies live on the ground andamong rubbish and rotten wood. The occurrence in the food of wasps and bees,on the contrary, is somewhat of a surprise, as they are mostly sun-loving insectsmore often found on flowers or the leaves of trees than under bushes or thicketswhere the thrasher delights to forage. Together they make up something morethan 12 per cent of the food of the year. Two specimens of worker honey-bees(Apis mellifera) were found in one stomacli. None
. Birds and nature in natural colors : being a scientific and popular treatise on four hundred birds of the United States and Canada . ecies live on the ground andamong rubbish and rotten wood. The occurrence in the food of wasps and bees,on the contrary, is somewhat of a surprise, as they are mostly sun-loving insectsmore often found on flowers or the leaves of trees than under bushes or thicketswhere the thrasher delights to forage. Together they make up something morethan 12 per cent of the food of the year. Two specimens of worker honey-bees(Apis mellifera) were found in one stomacli. None of the other Hymenopeterawas of specially useful species. Caterpillars, cocoons, and moths amount to a little more than 8 per cent of thefood, and the greater number were eaten during the winter months. It is probablethat they were hibernating and were raked out from under dead leaves or otherrubbish. A few bugs, flies, grasshoppers, and spiders make up the rest of theanimal food—about 6 per cent. Spiders and myriapods amount to a little morethan 6 per cent. 878 o Is I., o > !? 5 t;* • 5 w ■■ H • P- JO e W. Negetable food.—The vegetable food may be divided into three parts: Iruit,poison-oak seed*^, and miscellaneous vej^etablc matter. Fruit represents nearly18 per cent, but it jirobably is not of much value. Several stomachs containedpulp that could not be identified with certainty, an<l mij^ht have been that of somecultivated variety. Seeds of Kubus fruits (blackberries or raspberries^ werefound in 12 stomachs out of the K2. These, however, are as likely to have beenwild as cultivated. Elderberry seeds were discovered in 10 stomachs, Cascara,or coffee berries { Rhattiuus californicus), in 5, and man/.anita berries in 1. Theseed of poison oak and a few of the nonj)oisonous species of Rhus were eaten tothe extent of 14 per cent of the food. They were not found in many stomachs,but appear to be eaten in considerable quantities when eaten at all. The thrashermus
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectbirdsnorthamerica
