VIREOS. 41 



larity and appear in the food of every month. The consumption of 

 ladybirds is very moderate for a vireo, and on the whole the bird 

 probably does not do much harm in this way. All the other beetles 

 are harmful, as are most of the other insects which compose the bird's 

 food. 



HUTTOX VIREO. 



(Vireo huttoni.) 



This species is a resident of most parts of California west of the 

 great interior valley. In food habits it does not differ remarkably 

 from the foregoing, but the various elements of its food are in 

 slightly different proportions. 



Vegetable food. — Examination of 54 stomachs shows that less than 

 2 percent is composed of miscellaneous articles of vegetable origin. 

 One stomach contained a few seeds of elderberries, two contained 

 those of poison oak, and these with a few galls and some rubbish 

 make up the whole of this part of the food. It would seem that with 

 most of the vireos vegetable matter is taken accidentally, or possibly 

 experimentally to see how it tastes, rather than as an approved article 

 of diet. 



Animal food. — Of the 98 percent of animal food the largest item is 

 Hemiptera, as is the case with many of the vireos, titmice, and gnat- 

 catchers. These insects amount to 49 percent of the food of the pres- 

 ent species, and are represented b} T the following families: Assassin- 

 bugs, leaf -bugs, stink-bugs, leaf -hoppers, tree-hoppers, jumping 

 plant-lice, and bark scales. These last consist, as is so often the case, 

 of the black scale, which appeared in 8 stomachs. Caterpillars, with 

 a few moths and cocoons, are next in importance, and constitute over 

 22 percent of the food. These two items not only make up more than 

 two-thirds of the diet, but are eaten with great regularity through the 

 year and seem to be the staples of the bird's food. 



Beetles, collectively, amount to nearly 11 percent. Of these 8 per- 

 cent are ladybirds, somewhat more than were eaten by the Cassin 

 vireo, but only half of the amount eaten by the Swainson vireo. The 

 remaining beetles, less than 3 percent, were largely weevils, among 

 which a few engravers (Scolytidse) could be distinguished. Hyme- 

 noptera, including both wasps and ants, form about 7 percent of the 

 food. Among them several parasitic ones were identified, but there 

 were not enough to be of any great economic interest. A few mis- 

 cellaneous and unidentified insects amount to nearly 5 percent of the 

 food. Flies and grasshoppers make up a part of this, but they are 

 only rarely eaten. Spiders are consumed regularly but sparingly. 

 They amount to a little more than 2 percent. 



