  The current knowledge of the abundance pattern in delta Scuti stars is based
on the analysis of just a few field stars. We aim to determine the general
chemical properties of the atmospheres of delta Scuti stars based on a
statistically relevant sample of stars and will investigate whether the
abundance pattern is close to solar, an assumption generally made for pulsation
models. We have analysed high-resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio spectra of
seven field delta Scuti stars. We derived the fundamental parameters and the
photospheric abundances and compared them to a similar sample of cluster delta
Scuti stars. With the use of a t-test we demonstrated that there is no
difference between the two samples, which allows us to merge them, resulting in
a sample of fifteen delta Scuti stars. We did not find any substantial
difference between the abundance pattern of our sample of delta Scuti stars and
a sample of normal early A- and late F-type stars. One field star in our
sample, HD 124953, is most likely a pulsating Am star.
