22 
FARMERS BULLETIN 630. 
of animal food. The notorious cotton-boll weevil was found in six stomachs 
taken in the cotton fields of Texas and Louisiana, and five individuals of the 
strawberry weevil were taken from one collected in Texas. Many other beetles 
contained in the stomachs are equally harmful, but are not so widely known. 
Such are the corn leaf-beetle, which feeds upon com; the 12-spotted cucum¬ 
ber beetle and the striped cucumber beetle, both of which seriously injure and 
sometimes destroy cucumber and squash vines; and the locust leaf miner, 
which is sometimes so numerous that all the locust trees over large areas are 
blasted as by fire. 
In the phcebe’s diet hymenopterous insects stand at the head, as in the case 
with most of the flycatchers. They are eaten with great regularity and are 
the largest item in nearly every month. A few are useful parasitic species, 
but these are offset by a number of sawfly larvae, which are very harmful 
insects. Ants were found in 24 stomachs. No honeybees were identified. In 
their season grasshoppers are much relished, while wasps of various forms, 
many flies of species that annoy cattle, and a few bugs and spiders are also 
eaten regularly. It is evident that a pair of phoebes must materially reduce 
the number of insects near a garden or field, as the birds often, if not always, 
raise two broods a year, and each brood numbers from four to six young. 
There is hardly a more useful species, about the farm than the phcebe, and 
it should receive every encouragement. To furnish nesting boxes is helpful, 
but not necessary, as it usually prefers a more open situation, like a shed or 
a nook under the eaves, but it 
should be protected from cats and 
other marauders. 
The black phoebe has the same 
habits as its eastern relative, both 
as to selection of food and nesting 
sites, preferring for the latter pur¬ 
pose some structure of man, as a 
shed or, better still, a bridge over a 
stream of water, and the preference 
of the black phoebe for the vicinity 
of water is very pronounced. One 
may always be found at a stream 
or pool and often at a watering 
trough by the roadside. 
Careful study of the habits of the 
bird shows that it obtains a large 
portion of its food about wet places. 
While camping beside a stream in 
California the writer took some 
pains to observe the habits of the 
black phcebe. The nesting season 
was over, and the birds had nothing to do but eat. This they appeared to be 
doing all the time. When first observed in the morning, at the first glimmer of 
daylight, a phoebe was always found flitting from rock to rock, although it was 
so dusky that the bird could hardly be seen. This activity was kept up all day. 
Even in the evening, when it was so dark that notes were written by the aid of 
the camp fire, the phoebe was still engaged in its work of collecting, though it 
was difficult to understand how it could catch insects when there was scarcely 
light enough to see the bird. Exploration of the stream showed that every 
portion of it was patrolled by a phoebe, that each one apparently did not range 
over more than 12 or 13 rods of water, and that sometimes two or three were in 
close proximity. 
The number of insects destroyed in a year by the black phoebe is enormous. 
Fortunately, the examination of stomachs has supplemented observation in 
the field, and we are enabled to give precise details. Of the 333 stomachs ex¬ 
amined, every one contained insects as the great bulk of the food. Only 15 
contained any ^vegetable food at all, and in no case was it a considerable part 
of the contents of the stomach. The insects eaten were mostly wasps, bugs, 
and flies, but many beetles also were destroyed. 
Useful beetles belonging to three families amount to 2.8 per cent of the 
food. Other beetles of harmful or neutral species reach 10.5 per cent. Wasps, 
the largest item of the food, were found in 252 stomachs and were the whole 
contents of 15. The average for the year is 35 per cent. Parasitic species 
were noted, but they were very few. Ants were found in 48 stomachs, and for 
Fig. 18.—Phoebe. Length, about 6i inches. 
