NUTHATCHES AND TITMICE. 69 



The following brief account of the food of this bird can be con- 

 sidered only preliminary, as but 76 stomachs were a Available for exam- 

 ination. These, however, are distributed through the year, so that 

 every month is represented by at least three. While these results may 

 be modified by future investigation, they probably afford a fair 

 general idea of the yearly food of the species. 



Animal food. — Unlike most of the titmice, the plain tit eats less 

 animal than vegetable food, the proportion being 43 percent of animal 

 to 57 of vegetable. Examination of a greater number of stomachs 

 may modify these figures but probably will not reverse them. The 

 animal food is quite evenly divided among a number of elements, but, 

 as with the bush tit, bugs (Hemiptera) appear to be the favorite, 

 mostly eaten during the summer months. These amount to 12 

 percent of the food. This is a little more than one-fourth of the 

 amount of Hemiptera eaten by the bush tit. The black olive scale is 

 a prominent element of this part of the diet, and forms nearly 5 of 

 the 12 percent. In the month of August nine stomachs were taken, 

 and 34 percent of their contents consisted of these scales, while one 

 stomach was filled with them. The plain tit probably eats this insect 

 more or less throughout the year, but the limited number of stomachs 

 under consideration does not warrant a positive statement. The other 

 hemipterous food consists of representatives of several families, such 

 as leaf -hoppers (Jassidse), jumping plant-lice (Psyllida?), tree-hop- 

 pers (Membracidse) , and other remains not identified. 



Lepidoptera, represented mostly by caterpillars, are the next 

 most important ingredient ' of the food. They amount to nearly 11 

 percent, and are mostly eaten during the warm months, though one 

 stomach taken in March was filled with caterpillars and one moth. 



Beetles (Coleoptera) are next in importance in the food, of which 

 they form nearly 7 percent. All are harmful species, but the mem- 

 bers of one family are especially interesting. The genus Balaninus 

 is composed of weevils in which the snout attains its greatest length, 

 and sometimes is as long as the rest of the body. The insects, by 

 means of this long snout, bore into nuts and acorns, Avherein they de- 

 posit eggs, which hatch grubs that eat the nut. The tit finds these 

 beetles while foraging upon the oaks. One stomach contained the 

 remains of 13 of them, another 11, a third 8, and a fourth 7, while 

 others contained fewer. The plain tit feeds upon mast to some extent, 

 and it is interesting to note that some of the stomachs which held 

 remains of Balaninus contained acorn meat also, showing that the 

 birds found the one while foraging for the other. 



Hymenoptera in the shape of ants amount to nearly 4 percent, 

 while wasps make up the total of this order to about 6 percent. 



