In

slightly the most numerous and constitute 4.5 per cent of the year's food. July, August, and September, however, the amount is 14, 18, and 19 per cent, respectively. Four per cent of the food consists of wasps, bees, etc., but in the three months named they constitute 15, 7, and 9 per cent, respectively. A worker honeybee found in each of two stomachs is rather surprising, for it is unusual to find a bird like the jay eating many of these active and elusive insects, which enter into the diet of the flycatchers. The remainder of the insect food is pretty evenly distributed among beetles, bugs, flies, and caterpillars. Eggshells were found in 21 stomachs and birds' bones in 5. Six stomachs contained the bones of mammals and two those of a lizard. No bird has a worse reputation for nest robbing than has the eastern jay, and yet of 530 stomachs of the eastern species only 6 contained eggshells or the bones of birds. This comparison serves to show what a marauder and nest thief the California jay really is.

In its vegetable diet this bird much resembles its eastern relative, the most remarkable difference being in the matter of fruit eating. With greater opportunities the California bird has developed a greater appetite for fruit and indulges it to the fullest extent. Remains of fruit were found in 220 of the 326 stomachs. The percentage for the year is only 16, but for the four months of June, July, August, and September it is 44, 33, 53, and 25, respectively. Cherries, apricots, and prunes are the favorites among cultivated fruits, and elderberries are relished to some extent. Grain, which was found in 48 stomachs, amounts to 6 per cent of the food of the year. Practically all of it was taken in the four months above mentioned, but it is not probable that much damage is done by the jay in this respect. The major portion of the grain was oats. What was not wild was probably simply scattered grain gleaned after the harvest. Mast is eaten by the California jay from September to March, inclusive, and constitutes during most of that period one of the principal elements of its food. In this respect the bird shows a remarkable similarity to the eastern species. A few weed seeds and other miscellaneous items make up the balance of the vegetable food.

In summing up from an economic point of view the character of the food of the California jay, it must be conceded that it is not all that could be wished. Its taste for birds' eggs and fruit is entirely too pronounced, and at present the species is superabundant in California. While the natural food supply of the bird has been lessened by bringing the woods and brushy canyons under cultivation, the same areas have been planted to fruit, and naturally the jay takes the fruit as an acceptable substitute. A considerable reduction of the bird's numbers would appear to be the only effective remedy.

THE PHOEBES.

Among the early spring arrivals to their northern homes none is more welcome than the phoebe (fig. 18). The common phoebe' breeds throughout the United States east of the Great Plains, and winters from the South Atlantic and Gulf States southward. Its western relative, the black phoebe, is found from Texas west to the Pacific coast, which it occupies as far north as Washington, replacing through most of this region the common or eastern form.

Though naturally building its nest under an overhanging cliff of rock or earth, or in the mouth of a cave, the preference of the eastern species for the vicinity of farm buildings is so marked that in the more thickly settled parts of the country the bird is seldom seen at any great distance from a farmhouse, except where a bridge spanning a stream affords a secure spot for a nest. Its confiding disposition renders it a great favorite, and consequently it is seldom disturbed.

The phoebe subsists almost exclusively upon insects, most of which are caught upon the wing. An examination of 370 stomachs showed that over 89 per cent of the year's food consists of insects and spiders, while wild fruit constitutes the remainder. The insects belong chiefly to noxious species, and include many click beetles, May beetles, and weevils. Other beetles, belonging to 21 families that were identified, make up 10.65 per cent. They appear to be eaten very regularly in every month, but the most are taken in spring and early summer. May is the month of maximum consumption, with 20.43 per cent. Beetles altogether amount to 15.3 per cent, which places them second in rank of the items

of animal food. The notorious cotton-boll weevil was found in six stomachs taken in the cotton fields of Texas and Louisiana, and five individuals of the strawberry weevil were taken from one collected in Texas. Many other beetles contained in the stomachs are equally harmful, but are not so widely known. Such are the corn leaf-beetle, which feeds upon corn; the 12-spotted cucumber beetle and the striped cucumber beetle, both of which seriously injure and sometimes destroy cucumber and squash vines; and the locust leaf miner, which is sometimes so numerous that all the locust trees over large areas are blasted as by fire.

In the phoebe's diet hymenopterous insects stand at the head, as in the case with most of the flycatchers. They are eaten with great regularity and are the largest item in nearly every month. A few are useful parasitic species, but these are offset by a number of sawfly larvæ, which are very harmful insects. Ants were found in 24 stomachs. No honeybees were identified. In their season grasshoppers are much relished, while wasps of various forms, many flies of species that annoy cattle, and a few bugs and spiders are also eaten regularly. It is evident that a pair of phoebes must materially reduce the number of insects near a garden or field, as the birds often, if not always, raise two broods a year, and each brood numbers from four to six young. There is hardly a more useful species about the farm than the phoebe, and it should receive every encouragement. To furnish nesting boxes is helpful,

but not necessary, as it usually prefers a more open situation, like a shed or

a nook under the eaves, but it should be protected from cats and other marauders.

The black phoebe has the same habits as its eastern relative, both as to selection of food and nesting sites, preferring for the latter purpose some structure of man, as a shed or, better still, a bridge over a stream of water, and the preference of the black phoebe for the vicinity of water is very pronounced. One may always be found at a stream or pool and often at a watering trough by the roadside.

Careful study of the habits of the bird shows that it obtains a large portion of its food about wet places. While camping beside a stream in California the writer took some pains to observe the habits of the black phoebe. The nesting season was over, and the birds had nothing to do but eat. This they appeared to be doing all the time. When first observed in the morning, at the first glimmer of daylight, a phoebe was always found flitting from rock to rock, although it was so dusky that the bird could hardly be seen. This activity was kept up all day. Even in the evening, when it was so dark that notes were written by the aid of the camp fire, the phobe was still engaged in its work of collecting, though it was difficult to understand how it could catch insects when there was scarcely light enough to see the bird. Exploration of the stream showed that every portion of it was patrolled by a phoebe, that each one apparently did not range over more than 12 or 13 rods of water, and that sometimes two or three were in close proximity.

The number of insects destroyed in a year by the black phoebe is enormous. Fortunately, the examination of stomachs has supplemented observation in the field, and we are enabled to give precise details. Of the 333 stomachs examined, every one contained insects as the great bulk of the food. Only 15 contained any vegetable food at all, and in no case was it a considerable part of the contents of the stomach. The insects eaten were mostly wasps, bugs, and flies, but many beetles also were destroyed.

Useful beetles belonging to three families amount to 2.8 per cent of the food. Other beetles of harmful or neutral species reach 10.5 per cent. Wasps, the largest item of the food, were found in 252 stomachs and were the whole contents of 15. The average for the year is 35 per cent. Parasitic species were noted, but they were very few. Ants were found in 48 stomachs, and for

a short time in midsummer they constitute a notable part of the food. Various wild bees and wasps make up the bulk of this item. No honeybees were found. Bugs in various forms constitute 10.56 per cent and are eaten in every month but May. Stinkbugs appear to be the favorites, as they were contained in 10 stomachs. Plant lice were found in one stomach. Flies, forming the second largest item, were found in 97 stomachs and completely filled 3. They constitute the most regular article in the black phoebe's diet. The maximum consumption occurs in April, 64.3 per cent. The black phoebe well merits its title of flycatcher.

Moths and caterpillars amount to 8.2 per cent of the food. They were found in 72 stomachs, of which 51 contained the adult moths and 28 the larvæ or caterpillars. One stomach was entirely filled with adults. This is one of the few birds studied by the writer that eats more moths than caterpillars, for as a rule the caterpillars are largely in excess. Flycatchers, taking their food upon the wing, would naturally prove exceptions to the rule. Crickets are evidently not a favorite food of the black phoebe, as they amount to only 2.45 per cent. They were found in 39 stomachs, but usually the amount in each was small, though one stomach was entirely filled with them. Grasshoppers did not appear. Dragon flies were eaten to some extent, and these illustrate the fondness of the species for the neighborhood of water.

The vegetable matter eaten consisted chiefly of small wild fruits of no economic importance.

Another phoebe inhabiting the Western States and breeding as far north as Alaska is the Say phoebe.' Investigation of its food was based on the examination of 86 stomachs, and while none were available for the months when insects are most numerous, the bird proved to be one of the most exclusively insectivorous of the family. That it takes a few useful insects can not be denied, but these are far outnumbered by the harmful ones it destroys, and the balance is clearly in favor of the bird. Its vegetable food amounts to only 2 per cent and is made up of a little wild fruit, seeds, and rubbish.

THE KINGBIRDS.

The well-known eastern kingbird (fig. 19) is essentially a lover of the orchard, though groves and the edge of forests were probably its original habitat. It breeds in the States east of the Rocky Mountains, and less commonly in the Great Basin and on the Pacific coast. Its hostility to hawks and crows is proverbial, and for this reason a family of kingbirds is a desirable adjunct to a poultry yard. On one occasion in the knowledge of the writer a hawk which attacked a brood of young turkeys was pounced upon and so severely buffeted by a pair of kingbirds whose nest was near by that the would-be robber was glad to escape without his prey. Song birds that nest near the kingbird are similarly protected.

The kingbird is largely insectivorous. It is a true flycatcher and takes on the wing a large part of its food. It does not, however, confine itself to this method of hunting, but picks up some insects from trees and weeds, and even descends to the ground in search of myriapods or thousand legs. The chief complaint against the species by both professional bee keepers and others has been that it preys largely upon honeybees. One bee raiser in Iowa, suspecting the kingbirds of feeding upon his bees, shot a number near his hives; but when the stomachs of the birds were examined by an expert entomologist, not a trace of honeybees could be found.

An examination of 665 stomachs collected in various parts of the country was made by the Biological Survey, but only 22 were found to contain remains of honeybees. In these 22 stomachs there were in all 61 honeybees, of which 51 were drones, 8 were certainly workers, and the remaining 2 were too badly broken to be further identified.

The insects that constitute the great bulk of the food of the bird are noxious species, largely beetles-May beetles, click beetles (the larvæ of which are known as wire worms), weevils, which prey upon fruit and grain, and a host of others. Wasps, wild bees, and ants are conspicuous elements of the food, far outnumbering the hive bees. During summer many grasshoppers and crickets, as well as leaf hoppers and other bugs, also are eaten. In the stomachs examined were a number of robber flies-insects which prey largely upon other

1 Sayornis sayus.

2 Tyrannus tyrannus.

1

insects, especially honeybees, and which are known to commit in this way extensive depredations. It is thus evident that the kingbird by destroying these flies actually does good work for the apiarist. The 26 robber flies found in the stomachs may be considered more than an equivalent for the 8 worker honeybees already mentioned. A few caterpillars are eaten, mostly belonging to the group commonly known as cutworms, all the species of which are harmful.

About 11 per cent of the food consists of small native fruits, comprising some 30 common species of the roadsides and thickets, as dogwood berries, elderberries, and wild grapes. The kingbird is not reported as eating cultivated fruit to an injurious extent, and it is very doubtful if this is ever the case. In the Western States the Arkansas kingbird' is not so domestic in its habits as its eastern relative, preferring to live among scattering oaks on lonely hillsides, rather than in orchards about ranch buildings. The work it does, however, in the destruction of noxious insects fully equals that of any member of its family. Like other flycatchers, it subsists mostly upon insects taken in midair, though it eats a number of grasshoppers, probably taken from the ground. The bulk of its food consists of beetles, bugs, wasps, and wild bees. Like its eastern representative, it has been accused of feeding to an injurious extent upon honeybees. In an examination of 62 stomachs of this species, great care was take to identify every insect or fragment that had any resem

blance to a honeybee; as a result, 30 honeybees were identified, of which 29 were males or drones and 1 a worker. These were contained in four stomachs, and were the sole contents of three; in the fourth they constituted 99 per cent of the food. It is evident that the bee-eating habit is only occasional and accidental, rather than habitual; and it is also evident that if this ratio of drones to workers were maintained, the bird would be of more benefit than harm to the apiary.

The Cassin kingbird has a more southerly range than the Arkansas fly-catcher. Examination of a number of stomachs shows that its food habits are similar to those of others of the group.

Three points seem to be clearly established in regard to the food of the kingbirds (1) that about 90 per FIG. 19.-Kingbird. Length, about 8 inches. cent consists of insects, mostly inju

rious species; (2) that the alleged habit of preying upon honeybees is much less prevalent than has been supposed, and probably does not result in any great damage; and (3) that the vegetable food consists almost entirely of wild fruits which have no economic value.

All of the kingbirds are of the greatest importance to the farmer and fruit grower, as they destroy vast numbers of harmful insects, and do no appreciable damage to any product of cultivation.

NIGHTHAWK.

The nighthawk, or bull-bat' breeds throughout most of the United States and Canada, and winters in South America. It is strictly insectivorous, and hence does no damage to crops. The only charge that can be made against the bird is that it destroys some useful insects, but these are greatly in the minority in its food.

Nighthawks are so expert in flight that no insects can escape them. In their capacious mouths they sweep up everything from the largest moths and dragon flies to the tiniest ants and gnats, and in this way sometimes gather most remarkable collections of insects. Several stomachs have contained 50 or more different kinds, and the number of individuals ran into the thousands.

1 Tyrannus verticalis.

2 Tyrannus vociferans.

3 Chordeiles virginianus.

Nearly a fourth of the birds' total food is composed of ants. These insects are generally annoying and often very injurious, especially on account of their damage to stored products and because of their habit of fostering destructive plant lice. More than a fifth of the nighthawk's food consists of June bugs, dung beetles, and other beetles of the leaf-chafer family. These are the adults of white grubs, noted pests, and even as adults many members of the family are decidedly harmful.

Numerous other injurious beetles, as click beetles, wood borers, and weevils, are relished. True bugs, moths, flies, grasshoppers, and crickets also are Important elements of the food. Several species of mosquitoes, including the transmitter of malaria, are eaten. Other well-known pests consumed by the nighthawk are Colorado potato beetles, cucumber beetles, rice, clover-leaf, and cotton-boll weevils, bill bugs, bark beetles, squash bugs, and moths of the cotton worm.

Nighthawks are much less numerous than formerly, chiefly because of wanton shooting. They are given full legal protection almost everywhere, and citizens should see that the law is obeyed. The bird is far too useful and attractive to be persecuted.

THE WOODPECKERS.

Five or six species of woodpeckers are familiarly known throughout eastern United States, and in the West are replaced by others of similar habits. Several species remain in the Northern States through the entire year, while others are more or less migratory.

Farmers are prone to look upon woodpeckers with suspicion. When the birds are seen scrambling over fruit trees and pecking holes in the bark, it is concluded that they must be doing harm. Careful observers, however, have noticed that, excepting a single species, these birds rarely leave any conspicuous mark on a healthy tree, except when it is affected by wood-boring larvæ, which are accurately 10cated, dislodged, and devoured by the woodpecker.

FIG. 20.-Hairy woodpecker. Length, about 9 inches.

Two of the best-known woodpeckers, the hairy woodpecker (fig. 20) and the downy woodpecker, including their races, range over the greater part of the United States. They differ chiefly in size, their colors being practically the same. The males, like those of many other woodpeckers, are distinguished by a scarlet patch on the head. An examination of many stomachs of these two species shows that from twothirds to three-fourths of the food consists of insects, chiefly noxious kinds. Wood-boring beetles, both adults and larvæ are conspicuous, and with them are associated many caterpillars, mostly species that burrow into trees. Next in importance are the ants that live in decaying wood, all of which are sought by woodpeckers and eaten in great quantities. Many ants are particularly harmful to timber, for if they find a small spot of decay in the vacant burrow of a wood borer, they enlarge the hole, and, as their colony is always on the increase, continue to eat away the wood until the whole trunk is honeycombed. Moreover, they are not accessible to birds generally, and could pursue their career of destruction unmolested were it not that the woodpeckers, with beaks and tongues especially fitted for such work, dig out and devour them. It is thus evident that woodpeckers are great conservators of forests. To them more than to any other agency we owe the preservation of timber from hordes of destructive insects.

1 Dryobates villosus.

2 Dryobates pubescens.