BIRD BIOGRAPHIES 



members of its family, is by nature a seed-eater, and be- 

 fore the beginning of fruit-growing in California prob- 

 ably subsisted upon the seeds of weeds, with an occasional 

 wild berry. Now, however, when orchards have extended 

 throughout the length and breadth of the state and every 

 month from May to December sees some ripening fruit, 

 the linnets take their share. As their name is legion, the 

 sum total of the fruit that they destroy is more than the 

 fruit-raiser can well spare. As the bird has a stout beak, 

 it has no difficulty in breaking the skin of the hardest f i-uit 

 and feasting upon the pulp, thereby spoiling the fruit and 

 giving weaker-billed birds a chance to sample and acquire 

 a taste for what they might not otherwise have molested. 

 Complaints against this bird have been many and loud. 

 . . . Whatever the linnet's sins may be, grain-eating is not 

 one of them. In view of the great complaint made 

 against their fruit-eating habit, the small quantity found 

 in the stomachs taken is somewhat of a surprise. When 

 a bird takes a single peck from a cherry or an apricot, it 

 spoils the whole fruit, and in this way may ruin half a 

 dozen in taking a single meal. That the damage is often 

 serious no one will deny. It is noticeable, however, that 

 the earliest varieties are the ones most affected; also, that 

 in large orchards the damage is not perceptible, while in 

 small plantations the whole crop is frequently de- 

 stroyed." ^ 



In spite of this troublesome habit, the linnet is a most 

 engaging little bird. Its sweet bubbling song, not unlike 

 that of the purple finch, adds much to the charm of Cali- 

 fornia. 



3 Farmers' Bulletin 630, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Biological Survey. 



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