FLYCATCHER FAMILY. 39 



Vegetable food. — The vegetable food of the black phoebe amounts 

 altogether to only 0.61 percent, and may be classified under two heads: 

 Fruit and other vegetable matter. Fruit forms 0.34 percent, and 

 the only species identified were elderberries in 19 stomachs, dogwood 

 (Cornus) in one, and Rubus (blackberries or raspberries) in one. 

 This last may have been cultivated; and some fruit skins found in 1 

 stomach may also have been of a domestic variety. Miscellaneous 

 vegetable food consists of poison oak seeds in 2 stomachs, a catkin in 

 1 , and rubbish in 1 . 



Food of young.— Among the 333 stomachs of the black phoebe were 

 those of 24 nestlings, varying in age from 1 to 2 weeks. Their food 

 was tabulated by itself to ascertain if it differed from that of the 

 adults. No great difference was apparent in the kind of food eaten 

 nor in the relative proportions. One point, however, was noted. 

 The percentage of animal food was a little lower than in the adults; 

 not because the young had intentionally eaten any vegetable food, 

 but because, along with other food, the parents had fed a quantity of 

 rubbish, dead grass, leaves, and the like. The same apparent care- 

 lessness as to the food of their }^oung has been observed in other 

 species. 



SUMMARY. 



In a summary of the food of the black phoebe the vegetable part 

 may be dismissed as unimportant. Of the insect food we have less 

 than 3 percent of theoretically useful beetles, a few parasitic Hymen- 

 optera, and a few dragonflies, say, 5 percent in all, to offset 94 

 percent of harmful species. This phoebe is an efficient insect 

 destroyer, and is an invaluable asset to the people of California or any 

 other State it may inhabit. It should be rigidly protected and in 

 every way encouraged. 



WESTERN WOOD PEWEE. 



( Myiochanes richardsoni.) 



The western wood pewee is a familiar sight in the fruit-growing 

 sections of the State, where its time is spent in a tireless search for 

 insects. Wherever in the orchard there is a dead limb, there on the 

 outermost twig perches the pewee, and from its lookout sallies forth 

 to snatch up any luckless insect that comes within range. Several 

 such perches are usually to be found not far apart, and the bird 

 occupies them in turn as the game becomes scarce in one or the other 

 place. The little western flycatcher (Empidonax difficilis) has the 

 same habits, and shares these watchtowers with the pewee. Observa- 

 tion of one of these perches for three minutes, watch in hand, fur- 

 nished a good idea of the bird's industry. In the first minute it took 

 7 insects, in the second 5, and in the third 6, or 18 in the three minutes. 



