PHAINOPEPLA 109 



Juvenal body plumage he says : "The body plumage of females is a 

 nearly uniform olivaceous mouse gray and is not distinguishable 

 from that of adult females. In the first-year male the body plumage 

 is highly variable. * * * The replacement of body feathers 

 proper, in the postjuvenal molt, is as far as known always complete, 

 and the apparent admixture of body plumage is the result entirely 

 of the variety of feather types that may be produced during the 

 course of this molt, not a mixture of feathers of various ages as in 

 the wing and tail." 



Food. — The food of the phainopepla consists mainly of various kinds 

 of berries and winged insects, the former undoubtedly predominating. 

 On the deserts the principal portion of its diet, according to many 

 observers, is made up of the berries of mistletoe parasitic upon the 

 mesquite. In the desertlike w'ashes along some of the watercourses of 

 southwestern California is found a buckthorn, Rhamnus crocea., whose 

 small scarlet berries are a favorite food; berries of juniper, elder, and 

 various species of Rhus are also said to be eaten. In settled districts 

 the birds are often seen eating the red berries of the peppertree, 

 Schinus molle., which is abundantly planted as an ornamental. An- 

 other exotic item of diet highly appreciated by the phainopepla is the 

 rather succulent, sweetish petals of the Paraguay guava, Feijoa sel- 

 lowicma. When one of these large shrubs is in bloom late in spring, 

 several of the birds will often congregate in it, busily picking off the 

 petals. I have never seen them show interest in any fruit larger than 

 a small variety of mulberry. 



Of its food habits in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains 

 north of Tucson, Ariz., Mr. Scott (1885) says: "All through July and 

 August, and for the greater part of September, the birds remained 

 abundant, feeding on the various berries and small fruits which be- 

 came ripe as the season progressed, and wherever such fruit as they 

 liked was at all abundant they paid little attention to any other kind 

 of food, though insect life fairly teemed in and about the berries that 

 attracted the birds. They showed a particular fondness for a kind 

 of wild grape, and hunted the country through for such fruit, in 

 parties of from ten to forty." 



Behavior. — One may well doubt whether most phainopeplas ever 

 have any contact with the ground during their lives, except perhaps 

 for the purpose of drinking. All their actions plainly express their 

 preference for the air rather than the earth : they perch on the topmost 

 twigs of trees and shrubs, and when going from place to place, their 

 flight is likely to follow a course far above the straight line that is the 

 shortest distance between the two points. The flight, though not 

 rapid, appears leisurely rather than labored, and, as pointed out by 

 Bradford Torrey, previously quoted, it has a peculiarly buoyant 



