20 BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA AFFECTING FRUIT INDUSTRY. 



increase in the fruit eaten in March, so there is an unexplained de- 

 crease in the consumption of weed seed during that month. With 

 that exception, the amount taken in each month decreases in a fairly 

 regular series from a maximum of 99.8 percent in January to a mini- 

 mum of 64 in August. From this month the quantity of seed in the 

 stomachs increases steadily to December, when the record ends with 

 97.9 percent. 



It seems probable that such a constant and persistent eater of weed 

 seed would also eat considerable grain. Stomach records show that 

 wheat was identified in one stomach, oats in three, and something very 

 like the skin from kernels of corn in five. In this connection it can 

 be said that if the linnet does not eat grain it certainly is not for want 

 of opportunity.- It is evident then that weed seed is taken by the 

 linnet simply because it likes it. 



SUMMARY. 



It is natural to conclude that the food most frequently found in a 

 bird's stomach is the kind preferred. Applying this test to the linnet 

 Ave find that of the total 1,206 stomachs examined, 1,133, or 94 percent 

 of all, held weed seed, and that .807, or nearly 67 percent of the whole, 

 contained no other food. On the other hand, fruit was found in 297 

 stomachs, or 24 percent of the whole number, but only 38, or 3 per- 

 cent of all, were entirely filled with it. In other words, there were 

 only 63 stomachs that did not contain weed seed, while 909 contained 

 no fruit. 



The miscellaneous portions of the linnet's vegetable food amount 

 to only about nine-tenths of 1 percent of the food of the year, and 

 all was found in 28 stomachs. Stamens and other parts of flowers 

 were found in 14 stomachs only, which does not indicate that the 

 injury to fruit buds by the linnet is serious. One stomach contained 

 a small leaf gall. Ten stomachs held matter denominated as rubbish, 

 consisting of bits of dead leaves, rotten wood, etc., evidently swal- 

 lowed unintentionally with other food. 



From the foregoing it appears that, contrary to the statements and 

 beliefs of many, the linnet is not a constant and persistent devourer 

 of fruit.- Examination of the contents of many stomachs shows that 

 fruit is far from being its principal article of diet, and it is probable 

 that what is taken is eaten for the sake of variety or for the juico. A 

 far greater quantity of fruit is eaten by the cherry bird (Ampelis 

 cedrorum) and by the robin {Merula migratoria) , both of which occur 

 in California. 



PROTECTION OF FRUIT FROM LINNETS. 



In the case of both these birds, however, the greater part of the 

 fruit eaten consists of wild species, and this fact suggests a method 



