HOUSE FINCH. 17 



for its home it was only a matter of course that the bird should 

 select as its secondary food the nearest available source of supply, 

 namely, fruit. For seeds, Avhich are to be regarded as the linnet's 

 natural food, grow about the borders of orchards and by roadsides, 

 and hence are readily obtained. 



Although the* great bulk of fringilline birds normally snbsist 

 principally upon seeds, at certain times, notably in the breeding 

 season, they eat a considerable quantity of animal food, mostly 

 insects. Moreover, their young while still in the nest are usually 

 fed largely, and in some cases entirely, upon insects. Quite the con- 

 trary is true of the linnet. The adults eat only a small percentage 

 of animal food, even in the breeding period, and feed their nestlings 

 no more, perhaps less, than they eat themselves. In this respect the 

 linnet is probably unique in its family. Such animal food as the 

 bird does eat, however, is much to its credit. Plant-lice (Aphidee), 

 especially the woolly species, constitute a large portion of this part 

 of the linnet's food ; caterpillars and a few beetles make up most of 

 the remainder. 



It is, hoAvever, as a seed eater that the linnet stands supreme. 

 Over 86 percent of its food for the year consists of weed seeds, and it 

 is in this field, if anywhere, that the bird redeems itself from the 

 odium of its other misdemeanors. When the immense number of 

 linnets in California is taken into consideration, with the added fact 

 that each one destroys several hundred seeds daily, most of which are 

 potential weeds, it must be conceded that the bird renders a valuable 

 service to agriculture, for the sum total of weeds so destroyed is 

 enormous. 



FOOD. 



In the laboratory investigation of the food of the linnet 1.20G 

 stomachs were examined, including 46 of nestlings. All were from 

 California, and from points fairly well distributed over the State, 

 with the exception of the northern quarter. The greater number were 

 from the fruit-growing sections, so that the western coast region 

 is better represented than the part east of the Coast Eanges. They 

 Avere distributed through the year as folloAvs: 



.Ttuiuary ,S8 



FohniMry .3."> 



March IS'i 



April SO 



May 74 



.Tunc 107 



.Tuly 148 



9379— No. .'^0—07 2 



August 118 



Sei)teinber 128 



October 108 



Novomber 25 



December .54 



Total-- 1. 20G 



