WESTERN" WOOD PEWEE. 



51 



Orthoptera (grasshoppers and crickets) are conspicuously absent 

 from the food of this bird. Not a trace of this order of insects was 

 found in any of the stomachs. This is the more remarkable as grass- 

 hoppers are one of the staple articles of diet with a large number of 

 insectivorous birds, and western flycatchers in general eat more of 

 these insects than' most other fly-catching species. 



Lepidoptera (moths and caterpillars) are eaten to a somewhat 

 greater extent than Hemiptera, though contained in a less number 

 of stomachs, 29. They were taken in every month of the season and 

 amounted to 5.17 per cent. Moths were found in 24 stomachs and 

 caterpillars in 5. Dragon flies (Raphidia), lace-winged flies (Chryso- 

 pidae), May flies (Ephemerida), white ants (Termes), and spiders, 

 including one of the bristly jointed spiders (Solpugida), together 

 make 3.47 per cent, and complete the quota of animal food. 



The following are the insects identified in the food and the num- 

 ber of stomachs in which each was found': 



HYMENOPTERA. 

 Tiphia inornata 1 



COLEOPTERA. 



Hippodamia ambigua 1 



Hippodamia convergens 1 



Hippodamia transverso-guttata 



Coceinella 9-notata var. nevadica. . 



Coccinella calif ornica 



Coceinella sanguinea 



Hister bimaculatus 



Saprinus plenus 



Carphophilus hemiplerus 



Agriotes sp 



Agrilus sp 



Ptilinus basilis. . . 



Canihonsp 



Aphodius vittatus. 



Aphodius sp 



Gastroidea sp , 



Blapstinus sp 



Boris rubripes 



Balaninus sp 



ISOPTERA. 



Termes sp. 



NEUROPTERA. 

 Raphidia sp 3 | Chrysopa sp 1 



Vegetable food. — Vegetable matter, called by courtesy food, was 

 found in 4 stomachs. In one of these it consisted of 3 seeds of elder- 

 berries (Sambucus) ; in another, of a bit of fruit skin, with a trifle of 

 rubbish; in another, of one seed of wild oats; and in the fourth, of 

 rotten wood. It may be possible that this bird occasionally eats a 

 little fruit, but evidently not often. 



Summary. — While the western pewee inhabits orchards, it does 

 not go there for fruit, but only in search of the insect enemies of the 

 trees. It eats but few useful insects, and does not, as far as this in- 

 vestigation shows, attack any product of industry. If, under 

 exceptional circumstances, it destroys honeybees, the occasions are 

 so rare that the bird should not be blacklisted. 



