82 BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA AFFECTING FRUIT INDUSTRY. 



while caterpillars, which are a universal pest, are the favorite animal 

 food. In the vegetable portion of the diet fruit and grain appear as 

 mere traces, while the seeds of noxious weeds make up the bulk of 

 the food. It is not necessary to further eulogize this bird, as it is 

 already welcomed everywhere, as it should be. 



WESTERN SNOWBIRD. 



{Junco hyemalis thurberi and other subspecies.) 



Several subspecies of junco occur in California. One form, J. 

 pinosus, is a resident of the Monterey Bay region the year round. 

 Another, thurberi, is a resident of the State throughout the year, but 

 winters in the valleys and breeds in the mountains. Two others, 

 oreganus and connectens, occur in winter only, when all the forms 

 spread out and cover a considerable part of the State. It would be 

 better to treat the four races separately, but as many of the stomachs 

 were collected before the races were recognized, their exact identity 

 is unknown. They will be discussed, therefore, as a whole, but what 

 is said of summer food will not apply to oreganus and connectens. 



For this investigation 269 stomachs were available. They were 

 collected in every month except May. March, April, June, and 

 August are poorly represented, but the other months have each a 

 good quota. The first analysis of the food gives 24 percent of animal 

 matter to 76 of vegetable. 



Animal food. — Beetles amount to 5 percent, and nearly all were 

 eaten in the months from March to July inclusive, with no record 

 for May. With the exception of two ladybirds (Coccinellidse) found 

 in 2 stomachs, not a useful species was identified in the whole. 

 Weevils make up the bulk of this item, and a species of scolytid 

 (PMazosinus punctatus) was found in 1 stomach to the extent of 

 65 percent of its contents. Hymenoptera were represented mostly 

 by ants, with a few wasps, amounting in all to a little more than 2 

 percent of the food. Caterpillars are apparently the favorite insect 

 food, forming 9.4 percent of the diet. The great bulk were eaten 

 from April to August, and the single stomach taken in August con- 

 tained 67 percent of them. No special pest was identified. Bugs, 

 grasshoppers, a few other insects, and spiders, make up the remainder 

 of the animal food, 7.3 percent. 



Vegetable food. — Seeds of blackberry or raspberry were found in 

 1 stomach and elderberries in 2. In 14 stomachs taken in November 

 was found fruit pulp averaging over 11 percent of the food of the 

 month. As all fruit except olives is harvested before that time, 

 probably the berries were of no value. 



Grain was eaten from October to March inclusive, and amounted 

 to 8 percent for the year. All of it was contained in 30 stomachs, as 



