Part 8

The phœbe 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 20.43 per cent. Beetles altogether amount to 15.3 per cent, which places them second in rank of the items 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 corn; the 12-spotted cucumber 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 phœbe's diet hymenopterous insects stand at the head, as is 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 larvæ, 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 phœbes 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 phœbe, 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 phœbe has the same habits as its eastern relative, both as to selection of food and nesting sites, preferring for the latter purpose some structure of man, as a shed or, better still, a bridge over a stream of water, and the preference of the black phœbe 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 phœbe. 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 phœbe 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 phœbe 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 phœbe, 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 phœbe 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 examined, 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 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 constitute the most regular article in the black phœbe's diet. The maximum consumption occurs in April, 64.3 per cent. The black phœbe 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 larvæ 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 phœbe, 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 of the species for the neighborhood of water.

The vegetable matter eaten consisted chiefly of small wild fruits of no economic importance.

Another phœbe inhabiting the Western States and breeding as far north as Alaska is the Say phœbe. Investigation of its food was based on the examination 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.

Sayornis sayus.

THE KINGBIRDS.

The well-known eastern kingbird (fig. 19) is essentially a lover of the orchard, though groves and the edge of forests were probably its original habitat. 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.

Tyrannus tyrannus.

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 his 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 larvæ 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 examined were a number of robber files--insects which prey largely upon other insects, including honeybees, and which are known to commit in this way extensive depredations. It is thus evident that the kingbird by destroying these flies actually does good work for the apiarist. The 26 robber flies found in the stomachs may be considered more than an equivalent for the 8 worker honeybees already mentioned. A few caterpillars are eaten, mostly belonging to the group commonly known as cutworms, all the species of which are harmful.

About 11 per cent of the food consists of small native fruits, comprising some 30 common species of the roadsides and thickets, as dogwood berries, elderberries, and wild grapes. The kingbird is not reported as eating cultivated fruit to an injurious extent, and it is very doubtful if this is ever the case.

In the Western States the Arkansas kingbird is not so domestic in its habits as its eastern relative, preferring to live among scattering oaks on lonely hillsides, rather than in orchards about ranch buildings. The work it does, however, in the destruction of noxious insects fully equals that of any member of its family. Like other flycatchers, it subsists mostly upon insects taken in mid-air, though it eats a number of grasshoppers, probably taken from the ground. The bulk of its food consists of beetles, bugs, wasps, and wild bees. Like its eastern representative, it has been accused of feeding to an injurious extent upon honeybees. In an examination of 62 stomachs of this species, great care was taken to identify every insect or fragment that had any resemblance to a honeybee; as a result, 30 honeybees were identified, of which 29 were males or drones and 1 a worker. These were contained in four stomachs, and were the sole contents of three; in the fourth they constituted 99 per cent of the food. It is evident that the bee-eating habit is only occasional and accidental, rather than habitual; and it is also evident that if this ratio of drones to workers were maintained, the bird would be of more benefit than harm to the apiary.

Tyrannus verticalis.

The Cassin kingbird has a more southerly range than the Arkansas flycatcher. Examination of a number of stomachs shows that its food habits are similar to those of others of the group.

Tyrannus vociferans.

Three points seem to be clearly established in regard to the food of the kingbirds--(1) that about 90 per cent consists of insects, mostly injurious species; (2) that the alleged habit of preying upon honeybees is much less prevalent than has been supposed, and probably does not result in any great damage; and (3) that the vegetable food consists almost entirely of wild fruits which have no economic value.

All of the kingbirds are of the greatest importance to the farmer and fruit grower, as they destroy vast numbers of harmful insects, and do no appreciable damage to any product of cultivation.

NIGHTHAWK.

The nighthawk, or bull-bat, breeds throughout most of the United States and Canada, and winters in South America. It is strictly insectivorous, and hence does no damage to crops. The only charge that can be made against the bird is that it destroys some useful insects, but these are greatly in the minority in its food.

Chordeiles virginianus.