VOL. Iv. | Food of Birds. 57 
Several specimens of this woodpecker have been sent to me in 
the flesh from Visalia, Cal., by Mrs. W. F. Kelsey, in response 
tomy request, as the birds were said to be very destructive to figs. 
Upon dissection I found the pulp and seeds of figs and nothing else 
in the stomach. ‘This interesting local instance of injurious 
habits does not seem to me sufficient ground to justify the 
destruction of the birds—outside of that orchard. Protection by 
the use of the shotgun is pretty certain to be enforced by fruit- 
growers when the actual damage is so evident. I have had 
marked success in protecting a cherry-tree from the attacks of 
linnets by suspending a stuffed hawk with out-spread wings over 
it, and have seen the same plan prove effectual in protecting a 
soft-shelled almond tree. A stuffed owl is not as effective, acting 
rather as a ‘‘ red rag to the bull.”’ 
CALIFORNIA Jay. Aphelocoma californica, Mr. H. R. Taylor 
has sent me a corn cob which was entirely stripped of the kernels 
by jays in Santa Cruz County. Some stomachs collected by Mr. 
Hawley at Los Gatos contained only barley. Grasshoppers and 
other insects, principally coleoptera, are the chief dependence of 
jays, although in a number of instances I have known them to 
eat acorns and poison-oak berries. 
CLARKE’s Nutcracker. Picicorvus columbianus. At 
Summit Station Mr. Belding shot one of these birds, from the 
crop of which I took 130 seeds of Pinus ponderosa Jeffreyt; and 
quite a mass of partially digested seeds was found in the 
stomach. ‘The crop was so distended that it was very noticeable 
when the bird was flying. 
FLYCATCHERS AND Bers. Mr. A. Barnett, of San Diego 
County, had 300 swarms of bees which attracted the flycatchers 
to such an extent that he made some investigations to ascertain 
to what extent they might be damaging to the bee industry. 
Over 100 flycatchers were dissected, principally Arkansas 
_ Flycatchers and Phoebes (Black, and Say’s?). In all of the 
Arkansas Flycatchers drones were found, but no working bees, 
although in many cases the birds were gorged. In most of the 
Phoebes drone bees were found, the only exception was that of a 
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