Some Common Birds Useful to the Farmer 
21 
slightly the most numerous and constitute 4.5 per cent of the year’s food. In 
July, August, and September, however, the amount is 14, 18, and 19 per cent, 
respectively. Four per cent of the food consists of wasps, bees, etc., but in the 
three months named they constitute 15, 7, and 9 per cent, respectively. A 
worker honeybee found in each of two stomachs is rather surprising, for it is 
unusual to find a bird like the jay eating these active and elusive insects, 
which enter into the diet of the flycatchers. The remainder of the insect 
food is pretty evenly distributed among beetles, bugs, flies, and caterpillars. 
Eggshells were found in 21 stomachs and birds’ bones in 5. Six stomachs 
contained the bones of mammals and two those of a lizard. No bird has a 
worse reputation for nest robbing than has the eastern jay, and yet of 530 
stomachs of the eastern species only 6 contained eggshells or the bones of 
birds. This comparison serves to show what a marauder and nest thief the 
California jay really is. 
In its vegetable diet this bird much resembles its eastern relative, the most 
remarkable difference being in the matter of fruit eating. With greater oppor¬ 
tunities the California bird has developed a greater appetite for fruit am! 
indulges it to the fullest extent. Remains of fruit were found in 220 of the 32f> 
stomachs. The percentage for the year is only 16, but for the four months of 
June, July, August, and September it is 44, 33, 53, and 25, respectively. Cher 
ries, apricots, and prunes are the favorites among cultivated fruits, and elder 
berries are relished to some extent. Grain, which was found in 48 stomachs 
amounts to 6 per cent of the food of the year. Practically all of it was taken 
in the four months above mentioned, but it is not probable that much damage 
is done by the jay in this respect. The major portion of the grain was oats. 
What was not wild was probably simply scattered grain gleaned after the 
harvest. Mast is eaten by the California jay from September to Maich, inclu¬ 
sive, and constitutes during most of that period one of the principal elements of 
its food. In this respect the bird shows a remarkable similarity to the eastern 
species. A few weed seeds and other miscellaneous items make up the balance 
of the vegetable food. 
In summing up from an economic point of view the character of the food 
of the California jay, it must be conceded that it is not all that could be wished. 
Its taste for birds’ eggs and fruit is entirely too pronounced, and at present the 
species is superabundant in California. While the natural food supply of the 
bird has been lessened by bringing the woods and brushy canyons under cultiva¬ 
tion, the same areas have been planted to fruit, and naturally the jay takes 
the fruit as an acceptable substitute. A considerable reduction of the bird’s 
numbers would appear to be the only effective remedy. 
THE PHCEBES 
Among the early spring arrivals to their northern homes none is more wel¬ 
come than the phoebe (fig. 18). The common phoebe 40 breeds throughout the 
United States east of the Great Plains, and winters from the South Atlantic 
and Gulf States southward. Its western relative, the black phoebe, 50 is found 
from Texas west to the Pacific coast, which it occupies as far north as Wash¬ 
ington, replacing through most of this region the common or eastern form. 
Though naturally building its nest under an overhanging cliff of rock or 
earth, or in the mouth of a cave, the preference of the eastern species for the 
vicinity of farm buildings is so marked that in the more thickly settled parts 
of the country the bird is seldom seen at any great distance from a farmhouse, 
except where a bridge spanning a stream affords a secure spot for a nest. Its 
confiding disposition renders it a great favorite, and consequently it is seldom 
disturbed. 
The phoebe subsists almost exclusively upon insects, most of which are caught 
upon the wing. An examination of 370 stomachs showed that over 89 per cent 
of the year’s food consists of insects and spiders, while wild fruit constitutes 
the remainder. The insects belong chiefly to noxious species, and include many 
click beetles. May beetles, and weevils. Other beetles, belonging to 21 families 
that were identified, make up 10.65 per cent. They appear to be eaten very 
regularly in every month, but the most are taken in spring and early summer. 
May is the month of maximum consumption, with 20.13 per cent. Beetles alto¬ 
gether amount to 15.3 per cent, which places them second in rank of the items 
49 Sai/orms phoebe. 
50 Sayornis nigricans. 
