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Show MEADOWLARK A PEST? Belongs to Same Family as Blackbird and Oriole. Amount of Damage Done by This Bird Varies With Depth of Planting, Condition of Soil and Proximity Prox-imity to Pastures. (By II. C. BRYANT.) The meadowlark is not a true lark, but belongs to the same family to which the blackbird and oriole belong. be-long. Since the meadowlark of the eastern states differs from that found In the western states in both song and coloration, the bird of the west Is termed the western meadowlark. This is a common bird from Wisconsin, Wiscon-sin, Illinois, Iowa, Texas, etc., west to the Pacific coast, also ranging north Into Canada and south into Mexico. The meadowlark is well known because be-cause of its size, bright plumage and cheerful song. It is a conspicuous bird of treeless areas and a frequenter at the meadow and pasture. In California Cali-fornia it is found from sea level to altitudes of 7,000 feet in the mountains. moun-tains. It is most abundant in the great central valleys where, In some places, the birds may be seen congregated con-gregated in flocks of fifty or more, feeding almost entirely on the ground. This meadowlark appears to be one of the few birds which is profiting by the increased cultivation of land. Alfalfa Al-falfa furnishes particularly good food and cover for the bird and grain fields "- Holes Bored by Meadowlarks in Obtaining Ob-taining Kernels of Sprouting Grain. are often chosen for a home. With the furnishing of still more good food and cover, combined with, the destruction destruc-tion of some of its enemies, the western west-ern meadowlark may be expected to still further increase in numbers. Oats appear to be preferred. In the fields inspected, damage was greatest In sandy soil, for here the grain is more easily obtained. Next to the. condition of the soil, he factor goy-erning goy-erning the extent of damage appears to be the proximity of the natural laBItat of the bird. Fields bordering on marsh grass lands and pastures suffer most. In some instances the meadowlark meadow-lark have followed the drill row for distances of four to six feet and apparently ap-parently pulled every sprout. Barley and wheat are attacked to a less extent ex-tent than oats. Field corn and sorghum sor-ghum are not damaged. Meadowlarks can succeed in pulling the sprouting grain only when it first appears above the ground. After the second and third blades appear the plant is well rooted and the kernel no longer essential to the life of the plant. Only the grain which is within one and one-half inches of the surface is obtainable. Hence the difficulty of obtaining the kernel and the termination ter-mination of the time during which the kernel is essential to the life of the plant soon makes destruction impossible. im-possible. Hard, dry soil precludes attack. Damage is greatest after the soil has been softened by rain. Investigation In-vestigation shows that fields apparently appar-ently greatly damaged while the grain was sprouting have shown but little damage at harvest time. In some cases a certain amount of thinning may be beneficial bo that unless the damage is great the birds may perform per-form a real service. The fact that Dats is most seriously damaged and that, with the exception of barley and wheat, other grains are not attacked also minimizes the amount of possible damage. When the benefits conferred by the meadowlark are balanced with the. injuries, there remains no doubt that the bird deserves protection. Its value as a destroyer of injurious in--sects far exceeds its detriment as a destroyer of sprouting grain. The value of one of these birds living to ne dead is as five pounds of insects and one-half pound of weed seeds 13 to one and three-fourths pounds of grain, a considerable part of which is made up of wild oats and waste grain. A strong point favoring their pro-iection pro-iection is to be found in the fact that the damage to sprouting grain fields can be largely prevented by planting grain deeply and drilling instead of broadcasting, two measures highly advocated as favoring larger crops. |