FLYCATCHER FAMILY. 89 
Vegetable food.—The vegetable food of the black phoebe amounts 
altogether to only 0.61 percent, and may be classified under two heads: 
Fruit and other vegetable matter. Fruit forms 0.34 percent, and 
the only species identified were elderberries in 19 stomachs, dogwood 
(Cornus) in one, and Rubus (blackberries or raspberries) in one. 
This last may have been cultivated; and some fruit skins found in 1 
stomach may also have been of a domestic variety. Miscellaneous 
vegetable food consists of poison oak seeds in 2 stomachs, a catkin in 
1, and rubbish in 1. 
Food of young.—Among the 333 stomachs of the black phoebe were 
those of 24 nestlings, varying in age from 1 to 2 weeks. Their food 
was tabulated by itself to ascertain if it differed from that of the 
adults. No great difference was apparent in the kind of food eaten 
nor in the relative proportions. One point, however, was noted. 
The percentage of animal food was a little lower than in the adults; 
not because the young had intentionally eaten any vegetable food, 
but because, along with other food, the parents had fed a quantity of 
rubbish, dead grass, leaves, and the like. The same apparent care- 
lessness as to the food of their young has been observed in other 
species. : 
SUMMARY. 
In a summary of the food of the black phoebe the vegetable part 
may be dismissed as unimportant. Of the insect food we have less 
than 3 percent of theoretically useful beetles, a few parasitic Hymen- 
optera, and a few dragonflies, say, 5 percent in all, to offset 94 
percent of harmful species. This phoebe is an efficient insect 
destroyer, and is an invaluable asset to the people of California or any 
other State it may inhabit. It should be rigidly protected and in 
every way encouraged. 
WESTERN WOOD PEWEE. 
( Myiochanes richardsoni.) 
The western wood pewee is a familiar sight in the fruit-growing 
sections of the State, where its time is spent in a tireless search for 
insects. Wherever in the orchard there is a dead limb, there on the 
- outermost twig perches the pewee, and from its lookout sallies forth 
to snatch up any luckless insect that comes within range. Several 
such perches are usually to be found not far apart, and the bird 
occupies them in turn as the game becomes scarce in one or the other 
place. The little western flycatcher (Empidonaz dificilis) has the 
same habits, and shares these watchtowers with the pewee. Observa- 
tion of one of these perches for three minutes, watch in hand, fur- 
nished a good idea of the bird’s industry. In the first minute 1t took 
7 insects, in the second 5, and in the third 6, or 18 in the three minutes. 
