Some Common Birds Useful to the Farmer 
23 
were noted, but they were very few. Ants were found in 48 stomachs, and for 
a short time in midsummer they constitute a notable part of the food. Various 
wild bees and wasps make up the bulk of this item. No honeybees were found. 
Bugs in various forms constitute 10.56 per cent and are eaten in every month 
but May. Stinkbugs appear to be the favorites, as they were contained in 10 
stomachs. Plant lice were found in one stomach. Flies, forming the second 
largest item, were found in 97 stomachs and completely filled 3. They consti¬ 
tute the most regular article in the black phcebe’s diet. The maximum con¬ 
sumption occurs in April, 64.3 per cent. The black phoebe well merits its title 
of flycatcher. 
Moths and caterpillars amount to 8.2 per cent of the food. They were found 
in 72 stomachs, of which 51 contained the adult moths and 28 the larvae or 
caterpillars. One stomach was entirely filled with adults. This is one of the 
few birds studied by the writer that eats more moths than caterpillars, for as 
a rule the caterpillars are largely in excess. Flycatchers, taking their food 
upon the wing, would naturally prove exceptions to the rule. Crickets are 
evidently not a favorite food of the black phoebe, as they amount to only 2.45 
per cent. They were found in 39 stomachs, but usually the amount in each was 
small, though one stomach was entirely filled with them. Grasshoppers did 
not appear. Dragon flies were eaten to some extent, and these illustrate the 
fondness o‘f the species for the neighborhood of water. 
The vegetable matter eaten consisted chiefly of small wild fruits of no 
economic importance. 
Another phoebe inhabiting the Western States and breeding as far north as 
Alaska is the Say phoebe. 51 Investigation of its food was based on the exam¬ 
ination of 86 stomachs, and while none were available for the months when 
insects are most numerous, the bird proved to be one of the most exclusively 
insectivorous of the family. That it takes a few useful insects can not be 
denied, but these are far outnumbered by the harmful ones it destroys, and the 
balance is clearly in favor of the bird. Its vegetable food amounts to only 2 
per cent and is made up of a little wild fruit, seeds, and rubbish. 
THE KINGBIRDS 
The well-known eastern kingbird Ba (fig. 19) is essentially a lover of the 
orchard, though groves and the edge of forests were probably its original habi¬ 
tat. It breeds in the States east of the Rocky Mountains, and less commonly in 
the Great Basin and on the Pacific coast. Its hostility to hawks and crows is 
proverbial, and for this reason a family of kingbirds is a desirable adjunct to 
a poultry yard. On one occasion in the knowledge of the writer a hawk which 
attacked a brood of young turkeys was pounced upon and so severely buffeted 
by a pair of kingbirds whose nest was near by that the would-be robber was 
glad to escape without his prey. Song birds that nest near the kingbird are 
similarly protected. 
The kingbird is largely insectivorous. It is a true flycatcher and takes on 
the wing a large part of its food. It does not, however, confine itself to this 
method of hunting, but picks up some insects from trees and weeds, and even 
descends to the ground in search of myriapods or thousand legs. The chief 
complaint against the species by both professional bee keepers and others has 
been that it preys largely upon honeybees. One bee raiser in Iowa, suspecting 
the kingbirds of feeding upon his bees, shot a number near bis hives; but when 
the stomachs of the birds were examined by an expert entomologist, not a trace 
of honeybees could be found. 
An examination of 665 stomachs collected in various parts of the country 
was made by the Biological Survey, but only 22 were found to contain remains 
of honeybees. In these 22 stomachs there were in all 61 honeybees, of which 
51 were" drones, 8 were certainly workers, and the remaining 2 were too badly 
broken to be further identified. 
The insects that constitute the great bulk of the food of the bird are noxious 
species, largely beetles—May beetles, click beetles (the larva? of which are 
known as wire worms), weevils, which prey upon fruit and grain, and a host 
of others. Wasps, wild bees, and ants are conspicuous elements of the food, far 
outnumbering the hive bees. During summer many grasshoppers and crickets, 
as well as leaf hoppers and other bugs, also are eaten. In the stomachs exam¬ 
ined were a number of robber flies—insects which prey largely upon other 
B1 Sayornis say a. 
52 Tyrannus tyrannus. 
