Food Values
It would be very wrong to allow any bird to exist on only one kind of seed as most seeds are deficient in some respect. Their food values are given below. It should be remembered that protein is a very important item of the diet and that different seeds have varying amino acid constituents. Those of peanuts are superior and those of millets are especially poor.
Seed Food Values (in percentages)
| Carbohydrate | Protein | Oil | |
| sunflower | 20 | 24 | 47 |
| pine nuts | 12 | 31 | 47 |
| peanuts | 19 | 26 | 47 |
| Fats and oils | Mineral | Water | |||
| canary seed | 52 | 14 | 5 | 2 | 14 |
| millet | 61 | 15 | 5 | 2 | 13 |
| hemp | 16 | 16 | 32 | 4 | 12 |
| niger | 15 | 17 | 33 | 7 | 8 |
| maw | 12 | 17 | 40 | 6 | 15 |
| linseed | 18 | 40 |