VOL. IV. J 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 

 to my 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 eflfectual 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 califortiica. 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'vS Nutcracker. Picicorviis cohimbianus. At 

 Summit Station Mr. Belding shot one of these birds, from the 

 crop of which I took 130 seeds of Piiius ponderosa Jeffreyi, 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 Bees. 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 the}' 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 onlj^ exception was that of a 



