SPARROW FAMILY. 93 
and bushes. The service it performs in destroying the seeds of weeds 
should be sufficient to cover a number of sins, but fortunately there 
are none serious enough for consideration. 
BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK. 
(Zamelodia melanocephala.) 
During the six months from April to September inclusive, the 
black-headed grosbeak occurs throughout the State of California, 
excepting the arid deserts and boreal mountain summits. Like its 
eastern relative, the rose-breasted grosbeak, it takes readily to 
orchards and gardens, and is common in agricultural districts. It is 
a bird of beautiful plumage and sweet song, and is a welcome addi- 
tion to the attractions of rural life. It often nests in orchard trees, 
and, as is perfectly natural, gets much of its food there. While this 
consists mainly of harmful insects, a goodly part of it is fruit. The 
grosbeak, as its name indicates, has a very powerful bill, and has no 
difficulty in cutting the skin of the firmest fruit. It feeds upon cher- 
ries, apricots, and similar fruits to a considerable extent, but on the 
other hand it habitually consumes some of the worst insect pests, 
such as the black olive scale, the 12-spotted diabrotica, and the 
codling moth. The destruction of this trio alone should entitle the 
bird to great consideration, but it eats also other destructive insects. 
For the laboratory investigation of this bird’s food 225 stomachs 
were accessible. They were collected in the six months from April 
to September inclusive, a fair number in each, except the last, when 
only 3 were obtained. These stomachs contained about 57 percent 
of animal matter to 43 of vegetable. The animal matter is composed 
of insects and spiders, with a few traces of vertebrates. Insects, such 
as beetles, scales, and caterpillars, constituted nearly 53 of the 57 
percent of animal food. 
Animal food.—Of the animal food, beetles are the largest item. 
They were found in 190 of the 225 stomachs. Of these, predatory 
ground beetles (Carabide) were found in 16 stomachs, and ladybird 
beetles (Coccinellide) in 2. To offset the destruction of these useful 
insects, the 12-spotted diabrotica, which often does serious injury to 
fruit trees, was found in 109 stomachs. Many weevils were found, 
and great numbers of several species of leaf beetles (Chrysomelide). 
To this family belongs the notorious Colorado potato beetle, which 
at one time seemed likely to ruin the potato industry of the East. 
The bird which attacked this pest constantly and systematically was 
the rose-breasted grosbeak, a near relative of the one under considera- 
tion. When the potato beetle finds its way into California, as even- 
tually it undoubtedly will, the black-headed grosbeak is the bird most 
likely to become its active enemy. 
Hymenoptera in the form of bees and wasps with a few ants aggre- 
gate less than 2 percent. A worker honeybee was found in one 
