WESTERN BIRDS Grosbeak 



returned she found him singing and without stopping his 

 joyous lay he flew away and she took the nest. Some- 

 times, also, the female sings as she broods. 



The call of the young birds is the most musical of any 

 single call note I know in the bird world. It is a liquid 

 Whe-o and is given by the nestlings as they follow the 

 parents about in the trees. Sometimes the female, also, 

 gives this note. Ordinarily, however, the common note 

 of the adults is a metallic eek. 



These Grosbeaks have been accused of eating culti- 

 vated fruit, especially figs and cherries. Because of their 

 value in destroying insect enemies of fruit, Mr. McAtee 

 recommends that the birds be not killed but that rather, 

 in the case of a few trees, we cover them with netting. 

 This netting can be procured for four cents a yard and 

 with careful handling can be used ten, or more, years. 

 An experiment carried on in Indiana proved that the 

 fruit produced in a single season paid for the netting. In 

 orchards too large to make the use of netting possible, 

 the planting here and there of wild fruit-bearing trees 

 and shrubs, by means of which almost complete protec- 

 tion to cultivated fruit can be assured, is recommended. 

 The chief essential is that the decoy trees shall be early 

 bearing species, for it is the universal testimony that 

 almost all of the damage done is to early fruit. In order 

 to protect early cultivated fruit, therefore, it is necessary 

 to plant decoy fruit trees which will come into bearing at 

 the same time as the earliest varieties. Such a fruit is 

 the mulberry in some of its varieties. New American 

 and Russian are recommended for California. 



I can testify as to the fondness of the birds for these 

 berries as a large tree in my own yard is the foraging 

 ground for countless numbers, and many species. Elder- 

 berries are, also, great favorites and almost perpetual 

 bearers. 



We are told that the animal food of the Black-headed 

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