Some Common Birds Useful to the Farmer (1915 edition)Beal, F. E. L. (Foster Ellenborough Lascelles)
Science
Some Common Birds Useful to the Farmer (1915 edition)
Beal, F. E. L. (Foster Ellenborough Lascelles)
Birds -- United States
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.
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