14 BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA AFFECTING FRUIT INDUSTRY. 
DESTRUCTION OF FRUIT. 
Observations in orchards show that in the fruit season the linnet 
is not backward in taking what it considers its share of the crop, and 
as it spends much of the time there, field observations alone would 
lead to the conclusion that fruit was its principal article of diet. 
Examination of the stomach contents, however, proves that such is 
not the case, and when we find how small is the relative percentage 
of fruit eaten, it seems strange that its fruit-eating proclivities should 
have attracted so much attention. But it must be borne in mind that 
the bird is wonderfully abundant, which is one of the primary condi- 
tions necessary for any species to become injurious. 
Like most fringilline birds, the linnet has a strong, conical beak, 
with which it can cut the skin of the toughest fruit and reach the 
pulp. While such an instrument is very effective in attacking fruit, 
this is evidently not the use for which nature primarily designed it. 
It is customary to divide passerine birds roughly into two groups, 
the hard-billed and the soft-billed species, the former of which are 
supposed to feed on seeds while the latter subsist upon fruit and 
insects. From the standpoint of this classification the linnet would 
appear to be most emphatically a seed eater, and examination of the 
contents of stomachs of the species confirms the correctness of this 
view. Seeds of plants, mostly those of noxious weeds, constitute about 
seven-eighths of its food for the year, and in some months amount to 
much more. In view of this fact it seems strange that the house 
finch has acquired such a reputation for fruit eating, and it can be 
explained only upon the principle already laid down that in the fruit 
districts the bird is too numerous for the best economic interests. 
While each house finch eats but a small modicum of fruit, the aggre- 
gate of all that is eaten or destroyed by the species is something 
tremendous. 
Moreover, it must be noted that not all of the fruit destroyed is 
eaten. Only one peck from the strong bill is necessary to break the 
skin of the pear, peach, or cherry, and the fruit is spoiled; the linnet 
by no means invariably visits the same individual fruit a second time 
to finish it, but often attacks a fresh one at each meal. This is proved 
by the large number of half-eaten fruits, either on the tree or on the 
ground beneath. 
Tn large orchards, however, complaints against the linnet are fewer 
than formerly. Tere the damage is more widely distributed and con- 
sequently less noticeable than when confined to a few trees. It is 
probable that the area of orcharding has increased more rapidly than 
the linnets, so that the proportional injury is less. At present the 
chief complainants are the owners of small town lots, where a few 
trees are grown to supply fruit for home use. As linnets are usually 
