der watched from a brush shelter in the middle of the field and, whenever a crow appeared, frightened it away with a thundering report. If the field was left unguarded for any length of time, the crows were sure to make havoc among the melons. Since they would never come within gunshot if they knew anybody was watching, attempts were made to destroy them by a stratagem; two men would enter the brush house and one of them would soon leave, hoping to delude the crows into thinking that the house was empty, so that they would venture within range of the second man's gun. The plan worked only in the first few trials, however. The farmers at Marshall Hall maintain that crows can count up to three, for they could not be hoodwinked unless three men left the house and a fourth remained to shoot.

Wild fruit formed 10.12 percent of the food of the 645 birds collected, and had been eaten by 120. Both examination of stomachs and notes of field work showed how important an element it is in the food supply of many species.

Smilax. The catbird, which, with the possible exception of the cedar bird, is the most conspicuous frugivorous species on the farm, ate in May, when it arrived from the South, the winter-cured berries of smilax. Out of 13 individuals collected May 17-20, 1899, 5 had made from 15 to 40 percent of their diet on these husks in preference, as has already been said, to the feast spread in the strawberry patch.

During May cedar birds and crow blackbirds also relished them, and the robin, when hard pressed on its arrival, during the last of February, was seen to eat them eagerly.

Mulberries. The first wild fruit that offers a freshly ripened supply at Marshall Hall is the mulberry, and it lasts from the end of May until the end of June. On May 29, 1896, observations were made of birds feeding in a large mulberry tree in the wooded gully of the hog lot. A pair of downy woodpeckers that bred in a willow stub near by were twice noted eating the berries. A Baltimore oriole, probably a late migrant, fed on them eagerly. Several pairs of orchard orioles and kingbirds which nested together near the house came to the tree at frequent intervals. The kingbirds would balance themselves on the topmost sprays and pluck the berries as gingerly as if they had been insects. Two pairs of red-eyed vireos and a pair of white-eyed vireos haunted the mulberry and adjacent trees, now and then taking a berry, but most of the time apparently eating insects. A cardinal that nested on the shore of the calamus swamp, 200 yards distant, made one trip to the tree, but was accidentally frightened out of any subsequent visits. Crows came from the woods 25 rods away and three blue jays journeyed at least a quarter of a mile for the fruit. Song sparrows frequently hopped about on the ground beneath the tree and picked up fallen fruit. A flock of eight cedar birds fairly gorged themselves. At intervals they would repair to cedar trees on the brink of the gully and sit as motionless as if they were literally stuffed, until digestion relieved their repletion. Then they would apparently wake up, preen their pretty plumage, and, regaining activity one after another, would presently with one accord fly back to the berries with renewed appetite. They appeared to spend their whole time alternately feasting and napping. The catbirds were about as gluttonous, but not so lazy. They came to the tree from the neighborhood, from the house, and from the river bluff. Hardly a period of five minutes passed in which not one was among the branches, and three or four were often present at once. They were so tame that it was possible to see just how they fed. One would pluck a berry, sometimes an inch long, bolt it whole, and then stand almost choking, with mouth wide open, while the berry, which made a great lump in its gullet, slowly passed into its stomach. Then with evident relief it would hop about and perhaps sing a few bars of song. There was no luxurious idleness among the catbirds. As soon as they had eaten they either sang or flew away to resume nest building, incubation, or the feeding of their young. Mulberries formed at this season the greater part of their food.

A list follows of the birds that were observed feeding on this fruit or that were found by examination to have eaten it.

Raspberries and blackberries. The black raspberry, the dewberry, and the blackberry, which are the wild fruits that, in the order given, ripen next, are too plentiful and too widely distributed for much remunerative field observation. The following list of birds that ate them was prepared chiefly from stomach examination:

ever.

A few field notes on the destruction of these fruits were made, howCatbirds were seen, May 30, 1896, in black raspberry bushes near the house, eating half a dozen berries apiece. During June, 1899, lot 2 was overrun with a network of dewberry vines. Here, on the 17th, bobwhites were observed walking from vine to vine, picking the berries in a systematic fashion. During 1896 blackberries fruited heavily, and birds were not slow to take advantage of the generous food supply. July 12 a red-headed woodpecker was observed to come and feed on the berries with catbirds and orchard orioles, and a kingbird was seen to fly down to a bush, hover beside it, and pluck a berry. In early August, 1898, two field sparrows were seen in several instances selecting fruit which had dried on the bushes in preference to that which was fresh and juicy. They may have done this to obtain the seeds of the berry and extract their meat. A number of song

sparrows picked up blackberries from the ground as they had mulberries. Since this species is often very abundant in cultivated patches of blackberries and takes 10 percent of its food from this fruit in its season, the habit of feeding on fallen berries may be fortunate for the horticulturist. Rubus fruits are not raised for market at Marshall Hall, hence it is unimportant whether the birds eat them or not; if they were, and if there were no other fruit available, the abundant frugivorous birds would probably decrease the profits considerably.

Elderberries. Elderberries ripen next, usually during the latter half of July. There are so few of them on the farm that the record is scanty, but field notes made August 5, 1898, show how much they are

relished. A large elder bush was watched from 1.40 to 2.50 p. m. The observations may be thus summarized:

Detailed account of birds feeding on elderberries.

1.45: A song sparrow hopped along under the bush and picked up a fallen berry. 1.51: A downy woodpecker alighted on the main stalk and, ascending within reach of a cluster, ate 2 berries.

1.58: A female orchard oriole came and fed.

2.00: A catbird ate several berries.

2.03: A red-eyed vireo took 1 berry.

2.09: A catbird ate 3 berries.

2.11: A pair of red-eyed vireos flew into the bush; one took a berry and scurried away, but the other remained long enough to eat 4 berries.

2.12: A male redbird dashed in, took a berry, and dashed out.

2.13: A crow dropped clumsily into the bush, but after one peck at the fruit espied me and flew away with loud clamor.

2.15: A catbird took 1 berry.

2.16: A white-eyed vireo took 3 berries.

2.20: A catbird took a berry.

2.23: A female summer redbird came shyly and hurriedly ate several berries. 2.24: A catbird took a berry.

2.25: Another catbird picked at a cluster rapidly for one minute, swallowing in that time 20 berries.

2.27: A red-eyed vireo, poised in the air like a humming bird, ate several berries from the same cluster.

2.28: A female cardinal ate a berry.

2.30: A catbird ate 10 berries in a minute, rested, and

2.33: Took several more.

2.35: A female summer redbird, bending a berry stalk under her weight, leisurely plucked 5 berries from the drooping cluster.

2.37: A catbird ate 4 berries, sat and preened its feathers, and

2.50: Ate 17 more.

Wild cherries.-The wild black cherry (Prunus serotina) is plentiful at Marshall Hall, but as a rule birds did not congregate about it as they do in more northern States. The following species were found feeding on it:

Blueberries. Blueberries, though a staple article of birds' diet, are so scarce at Marshall Hall as to be unimportant. Tufted titmice and catbirds have been noted feeding on them at the southern corner of lot 4.

Other wild fruits. -With the waning of summer there comes such an abundance and variety of wild fruit that birds scatter over wide areas of the farm, and observation of their feeding habits yields only desultory results. There are, altogether, more than a score of wild fruiting plants at Marshall Hall, which furnish food to at least 30 kinds of

birds. Some of them, such as sassafras, blackberry, elder, and wild cherry, drop their berries shortly after ripening them, while others, such as hackberry, catbrier, and sumac, keep theirs well into winter and even until spring. The bountiful supply of late fruit is most noticeable just after the falling of the leaves. Then one may see large trees festooned with the burdened vines of bittersweet, woodbine, catbrier, and wild grape. Besides the climbing plants, many shrubs and trees are laden with fruit. The low horse-nettle is bright with yellow berries; the rank pokeweed bends under long grape-like bunches of dark purple fruit; and the persimmon is hung with yellow globes. The sour gum has dropped its deep-blue berries and light-red leaves together, but the holly is set thick with scarlet clusters that will glow all winter amid its shining green.

Some of the tastes exhibited by birds in their selection of fruit are interesting and singular. Catbirds and vireos have been known to pass by ripe blackberries and elderberries and choose green wild cherries and sassafras berries. Many birds eat sumac berries, which are practically all seeds and would seem to be about as satisfactory food as so much gravel. Fully a dozen species select the berries of black alder, which are as bitter as quinine. Cedar berries, a favorite food with birds, have an effect on the human system like cantharides, while the berries of pokeweed, nightshade, and poison ivy contain dangerous poisons. If birds are not immune from the toxic effects of these berries, one may question whether they do not take them for stimulation, as man takes tobacco and alcoholic beverages.

Poison ivy is eaten by practically all the frugivorous birds of the farm. A crow that was shot November 15, 1900, had 144 poisonivy seeds in its stomach. The pokeberry is also a favorite fruit. Mockingbirds and catbirds that were collected had fed on it so freely that their intestines were discolored by its juice. During February, 1900, the snow was stained in several places by bright red spots with a hole in the center an inch or more deep, at the bottom of which was a mass of fruit pulp and pokeberry seeds. These deposits proved to be excreta of cardinal grosbeaks that had eaten the berries, the heat from the droppings having sufficed to melt the hole in the snow. Nightshade berries (Solanum nigrum) were eaten by several birds of the farm, especially by the bobwhite. During February and November, 1900, a few sapsuckers, downy woodpeckers, bluebirds, and myrtle warblers, together with dozens of flickers and robins, and scores of cedar birds and purple finches, fed on the spicy, stimulating berries of the red cedar.

Distribution of seeds by birds. The large consumption of wild fruit results in a wide distribution of seeds, which are voided by birds and germinate where they are dropped. Some observations on crows will