70 BIKDS OF CALIFOKNIA AFFECTING FEUIT INDUSTRY. 



Other insects aggregate a little more than 5 percent. Tipulid flies 

 (daddy-long-legs) were found in several stomachs, as were grass- 

 hoppers also. One stomach contained the remains of 13 of the latter, 

 a remarkable number for so small a bird, but the bulk' was not great, 

 and they were probably the debris of several meals. Spiders are 

 a very constant article of food, but do not appear in great numbers, 

 as the average for the year is somewhat less than 1 percent. 



Vegetable food.— -In the vegetable food of the plain tit, fruit 

 amounts to nearly 32 percent. Fruit is a rather surprising item of 

 the food of this bird, as no one, so far as the writer can learn, has 

 ever accused it of destroying fruit. The quantity is three times as 

 much as is eaten by the linnet, and is another illustration of the fact 

 that in estimating the status of a species the number of individuals 

 as ay ell as the amount eaten by each individual must be considered. 

 The fruit consumed appears to be of the larger cultivated varieties, 

 as no seeds of wild berries were found. 



Cherries were identified in a number of stomachs, and pulp of the 

 larger fruits was abundant. As considerable of this was contained 

 in stomachs taken in the late fall and winter months, it is evident 

 that it was refuse left on the tree and of no value. Not only does the 

 plain tit eat fruit, but to some extent it indulges also in grain. Oats 

 were found in a number of stomachs and constituted nearly 30 per- 

 cent Of the contents of two stomachs taken in January. Grain is 

 probably not eaten to any considerable extent, however, as the amount 

 for the year is but little over 1.5 percent, and oats was the only variety 

 identified. Leaf galls, seeds of poison oak, weed seeds, unidentifiable 

 matter and rubbish make up the remainder, 24 percent, of the vege- 

 table food. None of these are of much economic importance, except 

 that the distribution of poison-oak seed is a nuisance. 



SUMMARY. 



From this somewhat imperfect review of the food of the plain tit 

 it is evident that in its present numbers it is useful. The insects it 

 eats are practically all harmful and the scales exceedingly so. More- 

 over, its habit of foraging in trees enables it to capture some of the 

 worst enemies of fruit and renders its work in this, direction invalu- 

 able. On the other hand, it eats quite a large percentage of fruit, 

 most of which appears to be of cultivated varieties, and should the 

 bird ever become as abundant as the linnet now is it would undoubt- 

 edly be a pest. This contingency, however, is extremely unlikely. 



CHESTNUT- SIDED CHICKADEE. 



{Par us rufescens subspp.) 



While this bird at present inhabits mountain regions rather than 

 orchards, still it may not be out of place to give a short digest of our 



