Part 3

The bluebird has not been accused, so far as known, of stealing fruit or of preying upon crops. An examination of 855 stomachs showed that 68 per cent of the food consists of insects and their allies, while the other 32 per cent is made up of various vegetable substances, found mostly in stomachs taken in winter. Beetles constitute 21 per cent of the whole food, grasshoppers 22, caterpillars 10, and various other insects 9, while a number of spiders and myriapods, about 6 per cent, comprise the remainder of the animal diet. All these are more or less harmful, except a few predacious beetles, which amount to 9 per cent. In view of the large consumption of grasshoppers and caterpillars we may at least condone this offense, if such it may be called. The destruction of grasshoppers is very noticeable in August and September, when these insects make up about 53 per cent of the diet.

It is evident that in the selection of its food the bluebird is governed more by abundance than by choice. Predacious beetles are eaten in spring, as they are among the first insects to appear; but in early summer caterpillars form an important part of the diet, and these are later replaced by grasshoppers. Beetles are eaten at all times, except when grasshoppers are more easily obtained.

So far as its vegetable food is concerned the bluebird is positively harmless. The only trace of any useful product in the stomachs consisted of a few blackberry seeds, and even these probably belonged to wild rather than cultivated varieties. Following is a list of the various seeds which were found: Blackberry, chokeberry, juniperberry, pokeberry, partridgeberry, greenbrier, Virginia creeper, bittersweet, holly, strawberry bush, false spikenard, wild sarsaparilla, sumac (several species), rose haws, sorrel, ragweed, grass, and asparagus. This list shows how little the bluebird depends upon the farm or garden to supply its needs and how easily, by encouraging the growth of some of these plants, many of which are highly ornamental, the bird may be induced to make its home on the premises.

Two species of bluebirds inhabit the Western States—the mountain bluebird and the western bluebird. In their food habits they are even more to be commended than their eastern relative. Their insect food is obtainable at all times of the year, and the general diet varies only in the fall, when some fruit, principally elderberries, is eaten, though an occasional blackberry or grape is also relished. In an examination of 217 stomachs of the western bluebird, animal matter (insects and spiders) was found to the extent of 82 per cent and vegetable matter to the extent of 18 per cent. The bulk of the former consists of bugs, grasshoppers, and caterpillars. Grasshoppers, when they can be obtained, are eaten freely during the whole season. Caterpillars also are a favorite food and are eaten during every month of the year; March is the month of greatest consumption, with 50 per cent, and the average for the year is 20 per cent. Two stomachs taken in January contained 64 and 50 per cent, respectively, of caterpillars. Beetles also are eaten and comprise mostly harmful species.

Sialia currucoides.

Sialia mexicana subspecies.

The vegetable matter consists of weed seeds and small fruits. In December a few grapes are eaten, but elderberries are the favorites whenever they can be found. It is only when these are in their greatest abundance that vegetable exceeds animal food.

THE ROBINS.

The robin (fig. 2), in many parts of the country one of the most cherished of our birds, is found throughout the States east of the Great Plains, and is represented farther west and south by slightly different subspecies., It breeds far north through Canada, and is found even in Alaska. Although the great bulk of the species leaves the Northern States in winter, a few individuals remain in sheltered swamps, where wild berries furnish abundant food. The robin is an omnivorous feeder and its food habits have sometimes caused apprehension to the fruit grower, for it is fond of cherries and other small fruits, particularly the earlier varieties. For this reason many complaints have been lodged against the bird, and some persons have even gone so far as to condemn it. It is, however, far too valuable to be exterminated, and choice fruit can be readily protected from its depredations.

Planesticus migratorius.

Planesticus migratorius propinquus.

Planesticus migratorius achrusterus.

Examinations of 1,236 stomachs show that 42 per cent of its food is animal matter, principally insects, while the remainder is made up largely of small fruits or berries. Over 16 per cent consists of beetles, about one-third of which are useful ground beetles, taken mostly in spring and fall when other insects are scarce. Grasshoppers make up about 5 per cent of the whole food, but in August they comprise 17 per cent. Caterpillars form about 9 per cent, while the rest of the animal food, about 11 per cent, is made up of various insects, with a few spiders, snails, and angleworms. All the grasshoppers, caterpillars, and bugs, with a large portion of the beetles, are injurious, and it is safe to say that noxious insects comprise more than one-third of the robin’s food.

Vegetable food forms 58 per cent of the stomach contents, over 42 per cent being wild fruits and only a little more than 8 per cent being possibly cultivated varieties. Cultivated fruit amounting to about 25 per cent was found in the stomachs in June and July, but only a trifle in August. Wild fruit, on the contrary, is eaten every month and constitutes a staple food during half the year. No less than 65 species of fruit were identified in the stomachs; of these, the most important were 4 species of dogwood, 3 of wild cherries, 3 of wild grapes, 4 of greenbrier, 2 of holly, 2 of elder; and cranberries, huckleberries, blueberries, barberries, service berries, hackberries, and persimmons; together with 4 species of sumac and various other seeds not strictly fruit.

The depredations of the robin seem to be confined to the smaller and earlier fruits, few, if any, complaints being made that it eats apples, peaches, pears, grapes, or even late cherries. By the time these are ripe the forests and hedges are teeming with wild fruits which the bird evidently finds more to its taste. The cherry, unfortunately for man, ripens so early that it is almost the only fruit accessible at a time when the bird’s appetite has been sharpened by a long-continued diet of insects, earthworms, and dried berries, and it is no wonder that at first the rich juicy morsels are greedily eaten.

While the robin takes some cultivated fruits, it must be remembered that, being a natural enemy of the insect world, it has been working during the whole season to make that crop a possibility, and when the fruit ripens the robin already has a standing account with the farmer for services rendered, with the credits up to this time entirely on his side.

Since the robin takes ten times as much wild as cultivated fruit, it seems unwise to destroy the birds to save so little. Nor is this necessary, for with care both birds and fruit may be preserved. Where much fruit is grown it is no great loss to give up one tree to the birds, and in some cases the crop can be protected by scarecrows. Where wild fruit is not abundant, a few fruit-bearing shrubs and vines judiciously planted will serve for ornament and provide food for the birds. The Russian mulberry is a vigorous grower and a profuse bearer, ripening at the same time as the cherry. So far as observation has gone, most birds seem to prefer its fruit to any other. It is believed that a number of mulberry trees planted around the garden or orchard would fully protect the more valuable fruits.

Much has been written about the delicate discrimination of birds for choice fruit and their selection of only the finest and costliest varieties. This is contrary to observed facts. Birds, unlike human beings, seem to prefer fruit that, like the mulberry, is sweetly insipid, or that, like the chokecherry or holly, has some astringent or bitter quality. The so-called black alder, a species of holly, has bright scarlet berries tasting as bitter as quinine, that ripen late in October and remain on the bushes through November. Though frost grapes, the fruit of the Virginia creeper, and several species of dogwood are abundant at the same time, the birds have been found to eat the berries of the holly to a considerable extent. It is, moreover, a remarkable fact that the wild fruits upon which birds largely feed are those which man neither gathers for his own use nor adopts for cultivation.

THE TITMICE.

Birds of the titmouse family, though insignificant in size, are far from being so in the matter of food habits. What they lack in size of body they more than make up in numbers of individuals. While in the case of some larger birds, as, for instance, the flicker, there is one pair of eyes to look for food for one large stomach, we have in the case of the ten times as numerous titmice an equivalent stomach capacity divided into 10 parts, each furnished with a pair of eyes and other accessories, as wings and feet. As against the one place occupied by the larger bird, 10 are being searched for food at the same time by the smaller species.

The character of the food of titmice gives a peculiar value to their services, for it consists largely of the small insects and their eggs that wholly escape the search of larger birds. Throughout the year most of the species of this group remain on their range, so that they are constantly engaged in their beneficial work, continuing it in winter when the majority of their co-workers have sought a milder clime. It is at this season that the titmice do their greatest good, for when flying and crawling insects are no more to be found, the birds must feed upon such species as they find hibernating in crevices, or upon the eggs of insects laid in similar places. In winter’s dearth of moving insects the search for such animal food as may be found is perforce thorough and unremitting.

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 (fig. 3). 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.

Penthestes atricapillus.

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 larvæ, 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 belong 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. Seventeen 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 important 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 and the tufted tit 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 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, 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.

Penthestes carolinensis.

Bæolophus bicolor.

Psaltriparus minimus.