10 BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA AFFECTING FRUIT INDUSTRY. 



migration. On the other hand, fruit grown near or in brushy can- 

 yons or on wooded hills is taken by birds that live in such places ; or 

 a stream flowing through a region of orchards maj^ harbor in the 

 shrubbery on its banks many birds that do not live in the orchard 

 itself. 



Hence depredations by birds may arise: (1) From the settlement 

 of a region and consequent introduction of new^ crops, accom- 

 panied by a diminished supply of natural food, destruction of ene- 

 mies, and a general change of natural conditions; (2) from failure 

 of the normal food supply, causing migration in search of food, or 

 an attack upon some product which the species does not usually eat; 

 (3) from proximity to a particular crop, in Avhich case the bird natu- 

 rally eats that which is most available. 



CONDITIONS IN CALIFORNIA COMPARED WITH THOSE IN THE EASTERN 



STATES. 



Before proceeding to a consideration of particular birds, one point 

 should be specially noted in connection with the subject of the rela- 

 tion of birds to fruit in California. Those parts of the State where 

 fruit is grown are not so well siij^plied with wild fruits on which 

 birds feed as are the fruit-growing areas of the Eastern States, or 

 even Qf those farther north on the Pacific coast. While California 

 has an abundance of wild berries which serve as food for birds, they 

 do not commonly grow near orchards and vinej^ards. 



In the Eastern States a plentiful supply of fruit, as acceptable to 

 birds as the best products of the orchard or garden (perhaps more 

 acceptable), is usually present in pastures and along roadsides, so 

 that it is only where wild fruits are exterminated by cultivation that 

 birds are forced to eat cultivated kinds. So abundant is wild fruit 

 in some regions, as in the United States east of the Alleghanies, that 

 it is safe to say that thousands of bushels of blackberries and rasp- 

 berries which grow wild everywhere annually fall to the ground and 

 rot, in spite of the fact that great quantities are gathered and eaten 

 by man as well as by birds. The same is true of blueberries (Vac- 

 cinium) and huckleberries (Gaylussacia), Avhich are so abundant in 

 a wild state that in their season they appear in the markets of most 

 of the cities and large towns, and are eaten in every country home in 

 the region where they grow. In addition to these are several species 

 of dogAvood (Cornus), holly (Hex), cherry (Prunus), Viburnum, 

 and many others, all of which are freely eaten by birds. 



Although many of these fruit-bearing shrubs are represented in 

 California by related species, they usually grow in the mountains 

 remote from fruit-growing districts. In fact, the elderberry (Sam- 

 bucus), the introduced pepperberry {Schinus molle)^ and an occa- 

 sional mistletoe berry are the only important uncultivated fruits 



