64 FOCD HABITS OF THE GROSBEAKS. 
sources is much less. It is evident that wild fruits are preferred, 
and that it is their abundance that protects the later ripening orchard 
varieties. In order to protect early cultivated fruit, therefore, it 
is necessary to plant decoy fruit trees which will come into bearing 
at the same time as the earliest varieties. 
Such a fruit is the mulberry, which has long been known as a fa- 
vorite of all frugivorous birds. There are many varieties derived 
from both foreign and native species, some one or other of which is 
suitable for any part of the United States. Perhaps the best of these 
to protect early fruit is the Townsend, which originated in northern 
Florida from the native red mulberry. This mulberry is very pro- 
lific and ripens fruit very early (in the latter part of March and 
April in Florida), a characteristic it will doubtless retain wherever 
it may be planted. Among other races of the same native stock are 
the Hicks, bearing in June and July, and the Stubbs, from June to 
August. The white mulberry of Asia (dJfo7ws alba) has yielded the 
Black English, the season of which is May to July, and the New 
American, fruiting at the same time, but very hardy, being adapted 
to mountain climates. The Russian mulberry (Jorus a. tatarica) 
also is hardy, and bears in May and June. The suitability of the 
mulberry for California is affirmed by Prof. E. J. Wickson, who 
says: “ Nearly all varieties of the mulberry have been introduced 
in California and grown rapidly and thriftily.” He commends the 
New American and Russian, mentioned above, and further states: 
“The mulberry has a lon season. The Persian ripens in Tulare the 
last of May and continually thereafter until October.” 
Although the mulberry is an excellent fruit when fresh, it has been 
put to little use, the main reason no doubt being that it is not adapted 
to transportation. Since it is not-of commercial importance, why 
not use it to protect more valuable fruits? The returns from such 
an investment, according to the testimony of many observers, are 
great. Dr. C. Hart Merriam says:? 
Groves of mulberry trees during the period of fruiting are thronged by hun- 
dreds if not thousands of birds, comprising many species and representing 
diverse groups. Such insectivorous kinds as flycatchers, warblers, vireos, and 
even cuckoos, form a part of the heterogeneous assemblage, departing from 
iheir customary diet long enough to join the multitude of blackbirds, orioles, 
finches, sparrows, tanagers, waxwings, catbirds, bluebirds, and thrushes, which 
from daylight until dark gorge themselves upon the tender berries. It seems 
incredible that such small birds as warblers, vireos, and the least flycatcher 
can open their tiny mouths wide enough to swallow such large berries as they 
really do gulp down with little effort. I know of no better tree than the mul- 
berry to plant in public and private grounds for the purpose of attracting our 
resident birds. 
*California Fruits and How to Grow Them, San Francisco, 3rd ed., 1900, 
p. 398. 
> Rept. Chief Div. Ornith. and Mamm. (1890), 1891, p. 285. 
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