VEGETABLE FOOD OF BLACKHEAD. 67 



Oats may be injured later in the season when in the milk, as some 

 were found in the stomach of a nestling blackhead. This grain, 

 however, may have come from the abundant wild oats. In any case, 

 the small percentage of grain consumed precludes serious injury 

 under all but the most exceptional conditions. 



WEED SEED AND OTHER VEGETABLE FOOD. 



From April to August, inclusive, weed seeds constitute an average 

 of 8.74 percent of the food of the blackheaded grosbeak. Most of 

 the seeds are derived from noxious plants; hence their destruction 

 is a service. Alfilaria {Erodiuni) seeds were taken by 13 birds, and 

 chickweed {Alsine) by the same number. The little shining black 

 seeds of red maids {Calaiidrinia) were eaten by 8 individuals, and 

 the large fleshy akenes of the milk thistle {Mariana^ PL II, fig. 

 12) by 5. Professor Beal several times has observed blackheads 

 feeding on the latter seeds, and the birds are known to be quite fond 

 also of the similar seeds of the garden sunflower. Among other weed 

 seeds found in the stomachs are tumbleweed {Amaranthns, fig. 18), 

 smartweed {Polygonum^ fig. 1), dock {Rumex)^ nightshade (Sola- 

 num), catchfly (Silene), geranium, and bur clover {Medicago). 



A few miscellaneous things, such as spires and wads of grass, conif- 

 erous leaves, and galls, were present in a few stomachs. 



Several items not detected in the stomachs examined are men- 

 tioned by other writers, and among them are garden peas, which it 

 will be remembered are relished by the rosebreast also. Dr. J. A. 

 Allen » wrote in 1872 that in Utah the blackhead is " called ' pea 

 bird,' it being very fond of young peas, and is hence regarded as 

 obnoxious." 



^Ir. Jackson Tal)or, of Folsom, N. Mex., in connection Avith hi 

 description of the bird's depredations on fruit says : 



They commenced on early vegetables, took the pea croj) in toto, and put in 

 their work on everything in the garden, even eating green beans that I never 

 knew anything else to touch. (Sejitember 2, 1008.) 



The bird shares in a taste said by many to be characteristic of all 

 grosbeaks, and Mr. Ilenshaw ^ in 187(5, writing of the bird's habits 

 in the middle region of the West, states that — 



It appears especially fond of the buds of various deciduous ti'cos and i)lants, 

 and the bills of many of those taken had been stained and gummed with their 

 juices. 



At times it feeds extensively on willow buds, according to Doctor 

 Cones, and Mr. Kidgway says that in May, in Truckee Valley, 

 Nevada, it was observed to feed on the buds of the greasewood." 



"Bull. .M. C. Z., TIT, 0, 1.S72, p. 1GS. 



^Zool. lOxpl. West of IWth Meridian. V, lS70..p. 297. 



'■CJeol. T<:xpl. -JOth I'arallel, TV. Pt. TFT. ls77. it. 4SS;. 



