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Dendroica Auduboni a Raisin Eater

C. S. Sharp

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I have found a new trait in the Audubon warbler which may be of interest to CONDOR readers, namely, a taste for sweets. There is a large amount of raisins on the trays stacked up in the tray shed of the packing house here and for several days they have been a great attraction to the birds, so much so that it has been necessary to keep a man constantly in attendance to shoot them and drive them away. The other morning I saw a flock of fully 200 birds--mostly Audubon warblers--around the shed and they seemed to go wild over the fruit, and as fast as they were driven from one side of the shed would fly round to the other. Every bird shot that I examined had the bill sticky for its whole length. The amount of damage done was considerable. Among the birds that had been killed I found one Arkansas kingbird, several bluebirds and house-finches, but the warblers were at the rate of about five to one of the other species. I do not know if this is a common trait of the Audubon warbler elsewhere, but it is certainly new to me.

Escondido, Cal.

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