1 64 



Bird - Lore 



The Black-headed Grosbeak is sometimes complained of 



What He Eats by the fruit-growers on the Pacific coast. It is a bird fond 



of figs, cherries and berries. But fruit is not the major part 



of its diet. It destroys many insects that are harmful to the fruit-grower, 



such as the codling moth, canker-worm, flower beetles and scale insects. 



According to Bulletin No. 32 of the Bureau of Biological Survey, entitled 

 Tood Habits of the Grosbeaks,' by W. L. McAfee, the Black-headed Gros- 

 beak is a bird of economic value to the fruit-grower, notwithstanding the fact 

 that it eats some fruit. An examination of 226 stomachs of this bird, the 



M.\LE BL.'^CK-HEADED GROSBEAK lEEDING YOUNG 

 Photographed by H. T. Bohlman 



majority of which were collected in California, shows that, during his six 

 months' stay in his summer home, the bird consumes an average of 34.15 per 

 cent of vegetable and 65.85 per cent of animal food. This bird shows a distinct 

 preference for black-olive scale, one of the most abundant and destructive 

 insects on the coast. This insect constitutes 20.32 per cent of the Grosbeak's 

 entire food. Of the stomachs examined, this insect was found to have been 

 eaten by 123 birds. This service alone more than pays fruit-growers for the 

 fruit it eats. To give a clearer estimate of the value of this bird to man, scien- 

 tific observations show that, for every quart of fruit eaten, the Black-headed 

 Grosbeak eats more than three pints of black-olive scales, more than a quart 

 of flower beetles, besides a generous supply of canker-worms and the pupae 

 of the codling-moth. 



The Black-headed Grosbeak has a rollicking song, like 

 Song that of the Western Robin and Western Tanager. I have, 



at times, found it difficult to distinguish the song of the Gros- 

 beak and that of the Tanager. The Black-headed Grosbeak is l)rilliant both 



