BIRDS 



181 



The night hawk, or "bull bat," may be seen most often soaring 

 high in air in the afternoon or early evening. It nests upon rocks or 

 bare knolls and flat city roofs. Its food consists of insects taken 

 on the wing ; and so greedy is the bird that when food is plentiful, 

 it fills its stomach almost to bursting. Ants (except workers) have 

 wings and fly as they are preparing to propagate. In destroying 

 ants night hawks rank next to, or even with, the woodpeckers, the 

 acknowledged ant-eaters among birds. 



Fig. 329. — Top-knot Quail, or California Partridge. 

 (West Texas to California.) 



The kingbird, or martin, is largely insectivorous. In an ex- 

 amination of 62 stomachs of this bird, great care was taken to 

 identify every insect or fragment that had any resemblance to a 

 honeybee ; as a result, 30 honeybees were identified, of which 29 

 were males or drones and 1 was a worker. 



Blue Jay. — In an investigation of the food of the blue jay 300 

 stomachs were examined, which showed that animal matter com- 

 prised 24 per cent and vegetable matter 76 per cent of the bird's 

 diet. The jay's favourite food is mast {i.e. acorns, chestnuts, 

 chinquapins, etc.), which was found in 200 of the 300 stomachs, 

 and amounted to more than 42 per cent of the whole food. 



