HOUSE FINCH. 19 



amount eaten in this month is somewhat surprising in view of the 

 fact that in April less than 2 percent was consumed, and it is not until 

 June that the percentage becomes important. It is possible that the 

 supply of weed seed of the previous year may be exhausted by March, 

 when the new crop has not yet ripened; so waste fruit is taken for 

 want of something better. 



It is practically impossible to identify particular kinds of fruit in 

 a bird's stomach unless characteristic seeds or stones are present. 

 These are rarely eaten by the linnet, which seems to prefer orchard 

 fruit. Cherries, apricots, peaches, and prunes appear to be the favor- 

 ites. This choice arises, no doubt, from the character of its beak 

 already described. While thrushes and other ' soft billed ' birds pre- 

 fer the smaller kinds commonly known as berries, which can be swal- 

 lowed whole, the linnet attacks the larger kinds, which yield readily 

 to its powerful beak. Linnets are particularly fond of small pears, 

 like the Seckel, and often attack them even when they are hard, a 

 fortnight or more before ripe. If undisturbed they will eat every one 

 on a tree, leaving the core attached to dry and blacken in the sun. 



A few strawberries and fewer blackberries or raspberries were the 

 only cultivated small fruits that could be identified in the stomachs 

 of linnets. A number of birds from the southern part of the State 

 had fed freely on figs, identified by their seeds. 



If the bird preferred an exclusive diet of fruit, there is no reason 

 why its taste should not be gratified during the greater part of the 

 year. When cherries are ripe in California linnets need eat nothing- 

 else. The cherry crop would be ample for all their wants, though 

 perhaps not much would be left for marketing. The record, how- 

 ever, shows that in June, which is practically cherry month in the 

 central part of the State, less than one-seventh of the linnet's food 

 consists of fruit. Apricots are ripe in many parts of the State 

 before the month closes, so that lack of fruit can not be urged as a 

 reason why the bird should subsist so largely upon weed seed. In 

 July apricots, peaches, and early figs are available, but still the linnet 

 eats them only to the extent of one-fifth of its diet, and even in 

 August and September, the months of maximum consumption, fruit 

 constitutes only a little more than one- fourth of the food. 



Weed seeds. — The greater portion of the linnet's food, as already 

 stated, consists of the seeds of weeds, the most important of which 

 are those of the Napa thistle, black mustard, Alfilaria, knotweed, and 

 turkey mullen (see PI. II, figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 7), the total consumption of 

 which for the year is 86.2 percent. This record is not excelled by 

 that of any other bird studied, with the possible exception of the tree 

 sparrow (Spizella monticola), whose food, however, consists largely 

 of grass seed, much of which is useful. As there is an unaccountable 



