228 Bird- Lore 



Prof. F. E. L. Beal, of the Biological Survey, has made a careful study of 

 the Bush-tit and its relation to the fruit industry on the Pacific coast. Three 

 hundred and fifty-three stomachs of Bush-tits were examined. 

 Food Habits They were collected during every month of the year, the greater 

 number being taken during the spring and summer. The fact that 

 less than one per cent of the food of the Bush-tit consists of fruit, and that over 

 four-fifths of its diet consists of insects and spiders, nearly all of which are harm- 

 ful, shows that the bird is a very valuable resident of any fruit-growing or farm- 

 ing district. According to Professor Beal, the largest item in the insect portion 

 of the Bush-tit's food consists of plant-lice or bark-lice or scale. 



The San Jose scale is one of the most pernicious and destructive pests to 

 the fruit-growing industry on the Pacific coast. As this scale is very small and 

 its distinctive character so minute, it is very difficult to identify positively after 

 it has been eaten by the birds and is mixed with the other food in the stomach. 

 Some species, such as the olive scale, are larger and more easily identified. Out 

 of the total of three hundred and fifty-three stomachs examined, one hundred 

 and thirty-eight held scales. Several stomachs were entirely filled with them. 

 So it is certain the Bush-tit devotes a good part of his time toward destroying 

 scale insects, which do so much damage to fruit on the Pacific coast. 



Professor Beal examined one brood of eight nestlings about ten days old. 

 The stomach of every one of these young birds contained pupae of the codling- 

 moth. Two stomachs contained two each, two contained three 

 Food of each, one contained four, one seven, one nine, and one eleven. 



The place where Professor Beal secured these young birds was 

 in an oak tree along a stream that bordered a neglected orchard. The parent 

 Bush-tits hunted through this old orchard, and did much to keep down the horde 

 of insects that thrived and lived there. This is the Bush-tit's life-work. It would 

 be difficult to find a small bird that is a more valuable asset to any farmer 

 or fruit-grower. 



MAK1N(; FRIENDS WITH A BUSH-TIT FAMILY 

 Photographed by H. T. Bohltnan 



