Read Ebook: Food Habits of the Thrushes of the United States by Beal F E L Foster Ellenborough Lascelles

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The gray-cheeked thrush is found in migration over all the Eastern States, but breeds farther north, beyond our limits. Bicknell's thrush , a closely related form, while having somewhat the same general range, breeds farther south and nests in the mountains of northern New York and New England. Both subspecies have the same general habits as other forms of the genus so far as haunts and choice of residence are concerned, but their far-northern range excludes them from coming into contact with cultivated crops. The species does not seem to be very abundant anywhere, and consequently only a few stomachs have been received for examination. In all they number but 111 and are very irregularly distributed in time. None were taken in August and only one in July and two in June. From so scanty and unevenly distributed material it is impossible to draw final conclusions, but we can get some idea as to the nature of the bird's food and its economic importance.

Following is a list of the insects identified and the number of stomachs in which found:

HYMENOPTERA.

COLEOPTERA.

HEMIPTERA.

The following list shows the fruits and seeds identified and the number of stomachs in which found:

False spikenard 1 Greenbrier berries 2 Bayberries 1 Poke berries 2 Crab apples 1 Wild black cherries 5 Blackberries or raspberries 2 Sumac berries 1 Black-alder berries 1 Wild grapes 5 Wild sarsaparilla 1 Flowering dogwood 5 Rough-leaved dogwood 2 White cornel 1 Dogwood 1 Sour gum 2 Black nightshade 1 Dockmackie 1 Arrowwood 1 Elderberries 3 Fruit not further identified 6

OLIVE-BACKED AND RUSSET-BACKED THRUSHES.

The olive-backed thrush and its relative, the russet-backed, occupy the whole of the United States at some time during the year. The olive-back breeds north of our northern border, except in the higher mountains, and the russet-back on the Pacific coast nests as far south as southern California. The habits of birds of this species resemble those of others of the genus in living in swamps and woodlands rather than in gardens and orchards. The russet-back on the Pacific coast, however, seems to have become quite domestic, and wherever a stream runs through or past an orchard or garden, or the orchard is near thick chaparral, this bird is sure to be found taking its toll of the fruit and rearing its young in the thicket beside the stream. During the cherry season it takes a liberal share of the fruit, but its young, then in the nest, are fed almost entirely on insects. The eastern subspecies, on the contrary, does not come in contact with domestic fruit or any other product of husbandry. A great number of the subspecies nest far north of the region of fruit raising.

For this investigation 403 stomachs of the olive-backed thrush were available, collected in 25 States, the District of Columbia, and Canada. Florida, Louisiana, and Texas represent the most southern collections and New Brunswick, Ontario, and Northwest Territory the most northern. In California 157 stomachs were obtained, which, with those taken in Oregon and Washington, fairly represent the Pacific coast region. The whole collection was fairly well distributed over the nine months from March to November. The food consisted of 63.52 per cent of animal matter to 36.48 per cent of vegetable.

Diptera reach the rather surprisingly large figure of 6.23 per cent. These insects are usually not eaten to any great extent except by flycatchers and swallows, which take their food upon the wing. The flies eaten by the olive-back are mostly crane flies or March flies , both in the adult and larval state. Crane flies are slow of wing and frequent shady places. The larvae of both groups are developed in moist ground, and often in colonies of several hundred. With these habits it is not surprising that they fall an easy prey to the thrushes.

Following is a list of insects identified and the number of stomachs in which found:

HYMENOPTERA.

COLEOPTERA.

LEPIDOPTERA.

TRICHOPTERA.

HEMIPTERA.

Following is a list of vegetable foods so far as identified and the number of stomachs in which found.

White cedar seeds 1 Red cedar berries 2 False Solomon's seal 3 Greenbrier 1 Cat brier 1 Hackberry 3 Mulberry 2 Fig 3 Pale persicaria 1 Poke berries 9 Mountain ash 1 Service berries 1 Blackberries or raspberries 67 Rose haws 1 Wild black cherries 15 Bird cherries 2 Domestic cherries 29 Domestic plum 2 Apricot 3 Filaree 1 Poison oak 4 Staghorn sumac 2 Dwarf sumac 3 Other sumac 4 Pepper tree 1 American holly 1 Black alder 1 Coffee berries 3 Woodbine 10 Frost grape 6 Spikenard 2 Flowering dogwood 7 Kinnikinnik 2 Red osier 1 Panicled cornel 3 Dogwood unidentified 6 Huckleberries 1 Three-flowered nightshade 1 Nightshade unidentified 8 Black twinberries 2 Honeysuckle berries 2 Snowberries 2 Dockmackie 1 Arrowwood 1 Black elderberries 6 Red elderberries 5 Blue elderberries 15 Tarweed 1 Fruit pulp not further identified 17

The distribution of the animal food is as follows: Caterpillars were found in every stomach but seven and aggregated nearly 27 per cent; beetles, including the useful Carabidae , are irregularly distributed to the extent of 22 per cent; other more or less harmful species included five families of bugs, 13.8 per cent, viz, stinkbugs, leaf hoppers, tree hoppers, shield bugs, and cicadas; ants and a few other Hymenoptera amount to 12 per cent, and spiders the same. These latter were mostly harvestmen or daddy longlegs . The remainder included a few miscellaneous insects. Only three stomachs contained remains of grasshoppers. Carabid beetles were eaten by the young birds to the extent of 7.7 per cent, which is more than three times the amount eaten by the adults, a remarkable fact when is considered that these insects are very hard shelled, thus seemingly unsuited for young birds.

The vegetable food consisted of fruit , mainly blackberries or raspberries, found in 11 stomachs, and twinberries in 1, and two or three other items, including a seed of filaree and some rubbish. From the irregular variety of food in the different stomachs, it would seem that the parents make little selection, but fill the gaping mouths of their young with the nearest obtainable supply.

In addition to the examination of stomach contents of nestlings two nests were carefully and regularly watched, and from these it was determined that the parent birds fed each nestling 48 times in 14 hours of daylight. This means 144 feedings as a day's work for the parents for a brood of three nestlings, and that each stomach was filled to its full capacity several times daily, an illustration that the digestion and assimilation of birds, especially the young, are constant and very rapid. Experiments in raising young birds have proved that they thrive best when fed small quantities at short intervals rather than greater quantities at longer periods. Aside from the insects consumed by the parents, a brood of three young birds will thus each require the destruction of at least 144 insects in a day and probably a very much greater number.

HERMIT THRUSHES.

Inquiry into the food habits of this bird covered 551 stomachs, collected in 29 States, the District of Columbia, and Canada, and representing every month of the year, though all the stomachs taken in winter were collected in the Southern States, the District of Columbia, and California. In the primary analysis the food was found to consist of 64.51 per cent of animal matter to 35.49 per cent of vegetable. The former is mostly composed of insects with some spiders, while the latter is largely fruit, chiefly wild species.

The ants destroyed--12.46 per cent of the food--keep up the reputation of thrushes as ant eaters. They were taken constantly every month, with the greatest number from May to September; a falling off in July is partly accounted for by the fact that more fruit is taken in that month. Other Hymenoptera were eaten to the extent of 5.41 per cent, a surprising amount for a bird that feeds so largely upon the ground, as these insects are usually of fleet wing and live in sunshine and open air.

Caterpillars, eaten in every month and mostly in goodly quantities, appear to be a favorite food of the hermit thrush. December is the month of least consumption , while the most were eaten in June . The average for the year is 9.54 per cent. Hemiptera seem to be eaten whenever found, as they appear in the food of every month, but rather irregularly and not in large quantities. The greatest consumption was in June , but July, September, and December show the least . The total for the year is 3.63 per cent. Of the six families represented, the Pentatomidae, or stink bugs, predominate. These highly flavored insects are eaten by most insectivorous birds often, but usually in small quantities.

Diptera comprise 3.02 per cent of the food of the hermit thrush. The record shows, however, that nearly all of them are either crane flies and their eggs and larvae, or March flies and their larvae. Over 150 of the latter were found in one stomach. Both of these families of flies lay their eggs in the ground, which accounts for their consumption by ground-feeding birds. Orthoptera are eaten by the hermit thrush to the extent of 6.32 per cent of its food. While this figure is not remarkable, it is the highest for any of the genus. These birds are fond of dark moist nooks among trees and bushes and do not feed extensively in those dry sunshiny places so much frequented by grasshoppers. A close inspection of the food record shows that the Orthoptera eaten by the thrushes are mostly crickets, which live in shadier and moister places than those where grasshoppers abound. A few miscellaneous insects close the insect account. Spiders and myriapods seem to constitute a very acceptable article of diet, as they amount to a considerable percentage in nearly every month, and in May rise to 20.79 per cent. A few miscellaneous animals, as sowbugs, snails, and angleworms, make up the balance of the animal food .

Following is a list of insects so far as identified and the number of stomachs in which found:

HYMENOPTERA.

COLEOPTERA.

HEMIPTERA.

ORTHOPTERA.

Following is a list of the components of the vegetable food so far as identified, and the number of stomachs in which found:

Cedar berries 2 False Solomon's seal 4 False spikenard 1 Greenbrier 2 Cat brier 2 Laurel-leaved greenbrier 1 Other greenbriers 11 Wax myrtle 1 Bayberries 7 Chinquapin 1 Western hackberries 5 Other hackberries 3 Figs 1 Mulberries 1 Mistletoe berries 2 Poke berries 16 Miner's lettuce 1 Sassafras berries 2 Spice berries 1 Currants 3 Sweet gum 2 Chokeberries 1 Service berries 9 Hawthorn 1 Strawberries 1 Blackberries or raspberries 5 Rose haws 1 Wild black cherries 3 Three-seeded mercury 1 Staghorn sumach 5 Smooth sumach 5 Dwarf sumach 7 Poison ivy 3 Poison oak 15 Laurel-leaved sumach 2 Other sumachs 12 Pepper berries 15 American holly 9 Black alder 12 Ink berries 9 Other hollies 7 Strawberry bush 1 Roxbury waxwork 1 Supple-Jack 2 Coffee berries 1 Woodbine 10 Frost grapes 2 Wild grapes 1 Wild sarsaparilla 1 Flowering dogwood 32 Rough-leaved dogwood 2 Black gum 2 Checkerberry 1 Huckleberries 1 Blueberries 12 Black nightshade 4 Bittersweet 4 Goose grass 1 Honeysuckle 2 Indian currant 1 Downy arrowwood 1 Nanny berries 2 Black elderberries 4 Red elderberries 3 Fruit not further identified 60

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Transcriber's Notes

The text presented is essentially that in the original printed document with the exception of some minor punctuation changes and the three typographical corrections detailed below. The original version also had two copies of the Table of Contents. The second copy which appeared on Page 1 was removed. Many of the tables which were presented in a two-column format and sometimes split between two pages were reformatted into one long table.

Typographical Corrections

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