66 BIKDS OF CALIFORNIA AFFECTING FEUIT INDUSTRY. 



that it corresponds closely to that of the other species of the family 

 discussed in foregoing pages. 



From this somewhat limited investigation of the food of the 

 California wrens several points may be regarded as established: 

 (1) That these wrens are essentially insectivorous; (2) that an over- 

 whelming majority of the insects composing their food are harmful 

 species; (3) that the quantity of vegetable food eaten is so small as 

 to have no economic importance. 



CALIFORNIA CREEPER. 



{Certliia familiaris Occident alls. ) 



Only 7 stomachs of the California creeper were available for 

 examination, but they confirm the good opinion observers have 

 formed of the habits of this bird. Like the titmice and nuthatches, 

 the creeper is an indefatigable forager on the trunks and branches 

 of trees, and the food it obtains there is of the same nature — that is, 

 small beetles (many of them weevils), wasps, ants, bugs, caterpillars, 

 and a few spiders. Of the 7 stomachs examined, only 1 contained 

 vegetable food, and this had only 19 percent of seed, too much digested 

 for identification. 



While the creeper is not S3 7 stematically classed with the nuthatches 

 and titmice, its food habits closely ally it to these birds and to the 

 wrens, and whatever good is true of them applies with equal force 

 to the creeper. 



NUTHATCHES AND TITMICE. 



( Parid^e. ) 



Few families of birds contain so many absolutely harmless and 

 thoroughly useful species as that of the nuthatches and titmice. All 

 of the American species are small, and several are so minute that the 

 larger species of humming birds exceed them in size. In colors they 

 are neither brilliant nor showy, black, white, brown, and gray being 

 the predominant tints of their plumage. In manners and voice they 

 are equally unobtrusive, and so little do their movements attract atten- 

 tion that one may be surrounded by them in the forest before he is 

 conscious of their presence. More than forty species and subspecies 

 of the titmouse family reside within the limits of the United States, 

 of which some fifteen live in California. 



From an economic standpoint the titmice are the reverse of insig- 

 nificant. They are essentially inhabitants of trees and shrubs, and 

 obtain almost their entire living from them. Their food consists 

 largely of small insects and their eggs and larvae, and, as the individ- 

 uals of most of the species are numerous and spend all the daylight 

 hours searching for food, it follows that the number of harmful 



