Show MEADOW LARK EATS MANY FARM PESTS P J meadowlark prepared by the united states department of agriculture may la is the month when the meadow lark does some of its best beat work in aiding the farmer for that la is when the cutworms cut worms begin their career and this little bird devours them by thousands it also eats many caterpillars and in the same month these creatures form over 24 per cent of its whole diet caterpillars which are ground feeders are often overlooked by birds which habitually frequent trees but they do not escape the meadow lark ants wasps spiders and chinch bugs are other harmful pests eaten by this feathered friend of humanity in 1514 stomachs of the meadow lark examined animal food practically all insects constituted 74 per cent of the contents and vegetable matter 25 26 per cent As would naturally be supposed the insects were ground species as beetles bugs grasshoppers and caterpillars with a few flies and wasps and spiders A num her ot of the stomachs were collected when the ground was waa covered with snow but oven even these contained a large percentage of insects showing the birds skill in ift finding proper under adverse circumstances ot of the various insects eaten crickets and grasshoppers pere perr are the most important por tant constituting 26 per cent ot of the food of the year and 72 per cent of the food in august it to is scarcely necessary to mention the beneficial effect of a number of these birds on a field of grass in the height of the grasshopper season ot of the 1514 stomachs collected at all seasons of the year or more than half contained remains of grasshoppers and one was filled with fragments of 37 ot of these insects this seems seem to td show conclusively that grasshoppers aro are preferred and are eaten whenever they can be found especially notable is the great number taken in august the month when grasshoppers reach their maximum abundance next net to grasshoppers beetles make up the most important item of the meadow larks food amounting to 25 per cent about one half ot of which are predaceous ground beetles be etlea the others are of harmful species sp eclea forty two individuals of different kinds of may beetles were found in ill the tha stomachs of meadow larks and there were probably many more which were past recognition to this form and several closely allied ones belong the numerous white grubs which are among the worst enemies to many cultivated crops notably grasses and grains and to a less extent strawberries and garden ve vegetables ge tables in the larval stage they eat cat the roots of those these plants and being large one individual may destroy several plants in the adult stage they feed upon the foliage of trees and other plants and in this way add to the damage which they began in the earlier form As these enemies of husbandry are not easily destroyed by man it Is obviously wise to encourage their natural foes among the weevils found in the stomachs the most important economically are the cotton boll weevil and the recently introduced alfalfa weevil of 0 utah several hundred meadow larks were taken in the cotton grow ing region and the boll weevil was found in 25 stomachs sto macha of the eastern meadow lark and in 16 15 of the western species of the former one stomach contained 27 individuals of 25 stomachs of western meadow larks taken in alfalfa fields of utah 15 16 contained the alfalfa weevil the vegetable food consists of grain and weed and other hard seeds grain in general to 11 per cent and weed and other seeds to seven per cent grain principally corn ts Is eaten mostly in winter and early spring aul and consists therefore of 0 waite warte kernels only a trifle la Is consumed lu summer and autumn when it is most plentiful no trace of sprouting grain was discovered clover seed need was found in only six stomachs and but little in each seeds of weeds paly y ras rag magna weed barnyard grass and are eaten from november to april inclusive clu CIU sive but during the tha rest of 0 the year are replaced by insects briefly stated more than halt half of tho the meadow larks food consists of harmful insects its vegetable food Is composed either cither of noxious weeds 0 or r waste grain and the remainder la Is made up of useful beetles or neutral insects and spiders A strong point in the birds favor Is that although naturally an insect eater it Is able to subsist on vegetable food and consequently B Is not forced tol to migrate in cold weather farther than Is necessary to find grounds tree free from snow the eastern meadow lark Is a common and well known bird occurring from the atlantic coast to the great plains where it gives way to the closely related western species which extends thence westward to the pacific it winters from our southern border as tar far north as the district of 0 columbia southern illinois and occasionally casio caBio nally iowa the tha western form winters somewhat farther north although it la Is a bird of the plains and finds its most congenial haunts in the pr prairies airles of the west it Is at home wherever there is ia level or undulating land covered with grass or weeds with plenty of water at hand some common birds useful to tho the farmer to la a new farmers bulletin no of the united states department part ment of agriculture which describes this and other interesting and valuable birds |