62 BIBDS OF CALIFORNIA AFFECTING FRUIT INDUSTRY. 



As will be noticed, the whole time of observation covered a period 

 of thirteen days, although the nest was not watched every day. In 

 all the nest was watched for twelve hours, and the total number of 

 times that food was brought to the young was 234, or an average of 

 19J times per hour. The young were fed as early as 5 o'clock in the 

 morning and as late as 7 in the evening, thus making for the parent 

 birds a working day of fourteen hours. Only a little plain arithmetic 

 is necessary to show very nearly the number of insects destroyed by 

 this family in a single day. 



These observations were made with watch in hand and the time of 

 each feeding noted. In many cases the parent bird was away in 

 search of food only half a minute. Once there was a heavy mist 

 nearly all day, when the mother wren was hard pressed to find food 

 for the ever-gaping mouths of her young. Xo flying insects were 

 abroad, and the supply of caterpillars from the immediate vicinity 

 had been exhausted. In this extremity the mother turned her atten- 

 tion to spiders and was seen to visit the interior of a summer house, 

 also to investigate a pile of flower pots and tubs and to plunge into 

 and under an evergreen hedge in search of something that would 

 answer for food. As the nest was watched at very short range, it was 

 often possible to determine the nature of the food brought by the 

 parent. When the nestlings were very young, it consisted almost 

 entirely of small green caterpillars, commonly called ' canker-worms.' 

 Later this was varied by tipulid flies (daddy-long-legs), small moths, 

 and spiders. Some of the insects brought were not determinable, 

 probably flies and Avasps. 



SUMMARY. 



From the above sketch of the food of the house wren it will be seen 

 that there is practically only one item to which exception can be taken, 

 namely, the coccinellid beetles, or ladybugs. But the record is so 

 meager that it is not safe to draw general conclusions. It is probable 

 that a more extensive investigation of the food of the California bird 

 will show that it is entitled to the same high economic rank as its 

 eastern relative. 



WESTERN MARSH WEEN. 



(Teimatod\ ris subspp. ) 



The marsh wrsn, as its name indicates, is a resident of swamps 

 and marshy grounds. At first thought its food might not appear to 

 be of any economic importance, but investigation shows that it does 

 not differ from that of the orchard wrens as much as one might infer 

 from difference of habitat. Only 53 stomachs of this species have 

 been obtained for examination. While this number is not sufficient 

 as a basis for final judgment, it suffices to show how closely the food 

 of this species resembles that of its congeners. 



