BLUE-FRONTED JAY 69 



of fall, the parental and filial instincts wane, these family parties break 

 up, and the individuals scatter out rather uniformly through the forest." 



Food.—Froi. F. E. L. Beal (1910), in his study of the food of this 

 jay, examined 93 stomachs and found that the animal food amounted 

 to 28 percent and vegetable matter to 72 percent. The animal food con- 

 sists largely of insects ; beetles, a little more than 8 percent ; Hymenop- 

 tera, about 1 1 percent, the largest item of animal food ; grasshoppers 

 and crickets, about 3.5 percent; caterpillars and moths, a little more than 

 2 percent; other insects were found only in insignificant amounts. Of 

 the Hymenoptera, he says : "They were found in 30 stomachs altogether, 

 and 2 were entirely filled with them. Ants were found in only 2 stomachs. 

 Three honey bees were identified, one in each of three stomachs. One 

 was a worker, another a drone, and the third indeterminate. None of 

 the smaller parasitic Hymenoptera were identified. The greater part 

 of this item of food consisted of wasps and wild bees, which would in- 

 dicate that this bird is an energetic and expert insect catcher." Mis- 

 cellaneous creatures identified were spiders, sowbugs, raphidians, hair 

 and skin of a mammal, "two bits of bone, probably of a frog." and 

 eggshells were found in 13 stomachs. "Only 6 of these egg-eating 

 records occurred in June, the nesting month. All the rest were in 

 September or later and were probably old shells picked up in abandoned 

 nests or about ranch buildings or camp grounds." 



Of the vegetable food, "fruit amounts to 22 percent and was found 

 in 55 stomachs. Prunes were identified in 2 stomachs, cherries in 2, 

 grapes in 2, Rubus fruits in 15, strawberries in 1, elderberries in 15, 

 bay laurel fruit in 1, unknown wild fruit in 2, and fruit pulp, not fully 

 identified but thought to be of cultivated varieties, in 16 stomachs. Thus 

 38 stomachs held fruit supposed to be cultivated. This number contains 

 all containing Rubus fruits, which probably were not all cultivated — 

 perhaps none of them were. * * * 



"Grain amounts to 5 percent, and was found in 15 stomachs, dis- 

 tributed as follows: Wheat in 7, oats in 9, and barley in 1. * ♦ ♦ The 

 chief food of this jay, however, is acorns, though occasionally it eats 

 other nuts or large seeds. Mast amounts to 42.5 percent of the yearly 

 diet, and was found in 38 stomachs. * * * In October and November 

 it amounted to 76 percent, in December to 90, and in January to 99 

 percent." 



He considers the economic status of this jay as of minor importance: 



In destroying beetles and Hymenoptera it performs some service, but it destroys 

 only a few. Of the order of Hemiptera, which contains most of the worst pests 

 of the orchardist and farmer, it eats scarcely any. The Orthoptera, which are 

 almost all harmful insects, are eaten only sparingly, and the same applies to the 



667497—46—6 



