■12 BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA AFFECTING FRUIT INDUSTRY. 



OTHER CALIFORNIA VIRKOS. 



Spveral other species and subspecies of vireos occur in California, 

 Ijut in the general character of their food they agree closely with the 

 foregoing. 



BEETLES FOUND l.N STOMACHS OF VIREOS. 



CoccincUa t. caHtornica. Gasttroidea viritUda. 



Hippodamia con verge 11,1. BUipstiniis spp. 



scifmmis spi». Apion crihricoUis. 



. I tiriUts spp. Balan iu i/.s spp. 



Crepidodera helxincN. Copturodcs kocbelei. 



WARBLERS. 



(Mniotiltidse.) 



The warblers, or more properly the wood warblers, to distinguish 

 them from the warblers of the Old World (Sylviidse), are a large 

 family of rather small and often brightly colored birds. For the 

 most part they inhabit Avoods and shrubbery, and while some of them 

 obtain their food from the ground they seldom wander far from 

 trees and bushes. The species and subspecies are so widely dis- 

 tributed that, excei^ting the deserts, there are no very extensive areas 

 within the boundaries of the United States that do not have their 

 complement of these interesting birds. Their food consists largely 

 of insects, and they subsist upon species which frequent the leaves 

 and trunks of trees. Wasps and flies (Hymenoptera and Diptera) 

 form a large portion of their diet, and as these insects are the best 

 of fliers a considerable portion of them are taken on the wing. The 

 warblers prol^'ably eat more of these elusive insects than does any other 

 family of birds except the flA'catchers (Tyrannida?) and the swallows. 



Upward of 75 species and subspecies of svarblers are known within 

 the limits of the United States, and a majority of these occur m the 

 West, though perhaps they are not so abundant individually as in 

 the Mississippi Valley and Appalachian region. 



The genus Dendroica, as the one best exhibiting the characteristic 

 traits of the group, may be taken as the type of the family. There 

 are about 30 species and subspecies of the genus in this country, and 

 the ones whose food is discu'ssed in the following pages occur in 

 California and on the Pacific coast generally. 



In a resume of the food of the warbler family one is impressed 

 with the general noxious character of the insects which compose it. 

 The order of Hemiptera, commonly called bugs, contains some of the 

 worst insect pests that afflict mankind. Moreover, from their small 

 size and unobtrusive habits they are not eaten by many of the larger 

 birds and are difficult to exterminate by the devices of man. But 

 in some of their multiple forms they are preyed upon by the warblers 



