. Food habits of the grosbeaks . Fig. 34. Codling moth {Carpocapsa pomonella). (From Simpson, Bureau of Entomology.) The spring cankerworm (Paleacrita vernata, fig. 35), which is re-sponsible for a great deal of damage in apple orchards, constitutes 6percent of the grosbeaks food in May. While this amount is notlarge, it is nevertheless worthy of note, since all of it is consumedwhen the earliest broods are developing. Only one other order, of insects contributes largely to the sub-sistence of the black-headed grosbeak—^the true bugs, Heteroptera-Homoptera. Among minor items of the order the H
. Food habits of the grosbeaks . Fig. 34. Codling moth {Carpocapsa pomonella). (From Simpson, Bureau of Entomology.) The spring cankerworm (Paleacrita vernata, fig. 35), which is re-sponsible for a great deal of damage in apple orchards, constitutes 6percent of the grosbeaks food in May. While this amount is notlarge, it is nevertheless worthy of note, since all of it is consumedwhen the earliest broods are developing. Only one other order, of insects contributes largely to the sub-sistence of the black-headed grosbeak—^the true bugs, Heteroptera-Homoptera. Among minor items of the order the Heteroptera col-lectively form percent of the diet, plant bugs, together withmembers of the squash-bug and stink-bug families and unidentifiedforms, being eaten by 18 birds. A miscellaneous assemblage from Yearbook Dept. Agr., 1904, p. 248. BLACKHEAD VS. SCALE INSECTS. 73. Fig. 35.—Spring cankerworm(Paleacritavernaia). (FromRiley, Bureau of Entomol-ogy,) the other group (Homoptera), including leaf and tree hoppers, plantlice, and cicadas, was distributed among 9 of the grosbeaks examined,and composes a little more than percent of the total food. Nextis the family of scale insects (Coccidse), which from an economicstandpoint is the most important element of the black-headed gros-beak^s food. Scale insects were fed uponby all but 81 of the 226 birds examined. The destructiveness of these insects neednot be explained to anyone in the westernfruit-growing region, where the disastrouseffects of their presence have been keenlyfelt for many years, longer in fact than inany other part of the country. Suffice it tosay that scale insects cause more trouble andloss to fruit growers than all other pestscombined, and the damage from them is to be reckoned by millions ofdollars. The black-headed grosbeak evinces a distinct preference for themost widely distribu
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