76 BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA AFFECTING FRUIT INDUSTRY. 



rise barely above 1 percent. They were contained in 66 stomachs, 

 of which 48 held ants and 18 contained wasps and bees. Parasitic 

 species were noted in several stomachs. 



Hemiptera amount to one-half of 1 percent, and were identified in 

 11 stomachs, of which 5 contained black olive scales; 2, leaf hoppers; 

 3, stinkbugs; and 1, a tree hopper. Caterpillars are the largest item 

 of animal food and amount to about 3.5 percent. Most of them were 

 eaten in July, when they constituted 37.5 percent of the food, but as 

 only 2 stomachs were collected in that month, this record can not be 

 taken as final. 



Vegetable food. — Fruit amounts to 4.5 percent. It was eaten rather 

 irregularly, but most of it from March to July, inclusive. A mere trace 

 was found in stomachs taken in September and October. Elder- 

 berries were found in 5 stomachs, blackberries or raspberries in 3, 

 figs in 3, cherries in 2, and in 1 a small berry not positively identi- 

 fied. , The cherries were unripe and only partly grown. A little pulp 

 was noticed that might have been from some larger fruit. The great 

 bulk of it was taken in May, June, and July. Grain aggregates 8.6 

 percent. It was contained in 69 stomachs, as follows: Oats in 56, 

 wheat in 7, barley in 5, and corn in 1. Most of it was eaten in the 

 three winter months, a little in the fall and spring, but practically 

 none in summer. Only 3.5 percent was eaten in March, which would 

 seem to indicate that this bird does not devour the newly sown grain. 



Like many other fringilline birds, white-crowned sparrows subsist 

 largely on weed seed. It is eaten freely in every month, and amounts 

 to 74 percent of the yearly food. June is the month of least consump- 

 tion, 33 percent, but that is the month when the most insects and fruit 

 are eaten. The 1 stomach taken in August was entirely filled with 

 this food, and it was over 90 percent of the contents of those taken in 

 September and October. Of the 516 stomachs only 38, or a little 

 more than 7 percent, contained no weed seed. 



Following is a list of the species identified and the number of 

 stomachs in which each was contained: 



Sunflower (Helianthus sp . ) 3 



Lesser tarweed (Hemizonia fasciculata) 1 



Tarweed ( Madia sativa) 34 



Mayweed (Anthemis cotula) 75 



Bur thistle ( Centaurea melitensis) 38 



Sow thistle (Sonchus asper) 4 



Prickly lettuce (Lactuca scariola) 1 



Nightshade (Solarium nigrum) 70 



Senna ( Cassia sp.) 7 



Lupine (Lupinus sp.) 1 



Clover ( Trifolium sp.) 1 



Mountain lilac ( Ceanothus sp.) 1 



Poison oak (Rhus diversiloba) 12 



Alfilaria (Erodium cicutarium) 45 



