94 BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA AFFECTING FRUIT INDUSTRY. 
months mentioned, 71 stomachs remain, from which a fairly reliable 
idea of the winter food of the robin in California may be obtained. 
In the first examination we find 40 percent of animal food to 60 
of vegetable. The food of eastern robins for the whole year con- 
tains 42 percent of animal matter to 58 percent of vegetable, and 
during the six months beginning on November 1 the amounts are: 
Animal 35 percent and vegetable 64 percent. If, however, our study 
is restricted to the three winter months, we find that the eastern robin 
eats 18 percent of animal food and 82 percent of vegetable, while 
for the same period the western one consumes 22 percent animal 
and 78 percent vegetable. These comparisons do not indicate essen- 
tial differences in the food of the two birds. The western bird eats 
more insects during the winter months because on the west. coast 
insects are more abundant and more easily obtained at that season 
than in the East. Confining attention, however, to the six months 
beginning with November, the eastern bird eats a greater percentage 
of insects. It is almost certain that if the material were at hand to 
illustrate the food of the western robin during the remainder of 
the year, the bird would be found to eat a much larger percentage 
of insects than in the six months covered by this investigation. 
elnimal food.—Beetles of various families are the largest item of 
animal food. The greater number were eaten in April, when they 
amount to over 54 percent of the whole food for the month. They 
were distributed among several families, but the most conspicuous 
were the snout-beetles, or weevils, which aggregated 25 percent. 
This is a favorable showing for the robin, for these beetles are among 
the most harmful insects with which the fruit growers and farmers 
have to contend. The average percentage of beetles for the whole 
six months is about 13 percent of the food. Caterpillars are next in 
order of abundance and amount to over 4 percent. The remainder of 
the animal food is nade up of various insects, of which no order 
claims preeminence, and of a few angleworms. 
Vegetable food.—The bulk of the vegetable food from November 
onward is cultivated fruit. After this month it gradually falls off, 
and very little was found in stomachs collected in March and April. 
With the exception of olives, the bird can obtain no fruit of value 
after the Ist of November, and as olives were not identified in any of 
the stomachs it is probable that inmost of the fruit consumed was 
worthless, having been left after the crop was gathered. The follow- 
ing fruits were identified: Grapes in 5 stomachs, figs in 3, prunes in 
2, pear, apple, and blackberries in 1 each. Of wild fruit, pepper ber- 
ries were found in 17 stomachs, mistletoe berries in 2, and fruit not 
positively identified in 11. Pepper berries evidently are the favorite, 
since not only were they found in the greater number of stomachs, 
but 1 stomach contained 2+ and another 28 of these berries, Two 
