54 BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA AFFECTING FRUIT INDUSTRY. 



Besides. the 34 stomachs already discussed, 19 others were examined, 

 but as the} 7 represent nine months of the year they are too few to 

 afford a criterion of the usual food for those months; but they give 

 a hint at least of what is eaten at other times than midsummer. 

 Two stomachs were taken in March, one of which was filled with ani- 

 mal food, and the other also, except 1 percent of vegetable rubbish. 

 The animal portion consisted of harmful insects, except one lizard. 

 This seems peculiar food for a mocking bird, and is to be considered 

 beneficial. The one stomach taken in May was filled with seeds of 

 poison oak. A stomach collected in June contained 8 percent of 

 caterpillars; small fruit, probably wild, constituted the rest of the 

 contents. Six stomachs taken in August contained 22 percent of 

 animal matter to 78 of vegetable. The animal food consisted of 

 beetles, ants, and grasshoppers. The vegetable portion was made up 

 of some wild grapelike fruit and a little fig pulp with some elder- 

 berries. Of four stomachs taken in September, one was filled with 

 insects and spiders. The three others contained a few wasps, with 

 fruit and other vegetable matter. The only insect to be considered 

 useful was one carabid beetle. Of the three stomachs collected in 

 October, one was filled with the seeds and pulp of grapes and figs; 

 one contained 27 percent of grasshoppers and 73 percent of some wild 

 berry not positively identified, while the third contained a few grass- 

 hopper remains and 92 percent of wild seed. The stomach collected 

 in December was filled with seeds and pulp of figs and grapes. One 

 stomach was taken in January which contained 70 percent of harmful 

 insects and 30 percent of seeds of poison oak. 



FOOD OF YOUNG. 



Among these stomachs was one of a nestling about a week old. It 

 contained 92 percent of grasshoppers and crickets and 8 percent of 

 some wild fruit. So far as it goes, this indicates that mockers follow 

 the general rule and feed their young largely on animal food of the 

 softer kind — that is, grasshoppers instead of beetles. 



SUMMARY. 



Reviewing the contents of the 52 stomachs we find 29 percent of 

 animal matter and 71 of vegetable. Of the animal food the largest 

 item is Hymenoptera, 10 percent; and then in order, Orthoptera 7 

 percent, Coleoptera 6 percent, Lepidoptera 5 percent, miscellaneous 1 

 percent. The vegetable food consists of 50 percent of fruit and 21 

 percent of seeds and other items. These results prove that the mock- 

 ing bird eats insects to a considerable extent, but they are not con- 



