No. 20.] THE BIRDS OF CONNECTICUT. 309 



" Next to grasshoppers, beetles make up the most important 

 item of the Meadowlark's food, amounting to nearly 21 per cent, 

 of which about one-third are predaceous ground beetles. The 

 others are all harmful species, and, when it is considered that the 

 bird feeds exclusively on the ground, it seems remarkable that so 

 few useful ground beetles are eaten. Many of them have a dis- 

 gusting odor, and possibly this may occasionally save them from 

 destruction by birds, especially when other food is abundant. 

 Caterpillars, too, form a very constant element, and in May con- 

 stitute over 28 per cent of the whole food. May is the month 

 when the dreaded cutworm begins its deadly career, and then the 

 bird does some of its best work. Most of these caterpillars are 

 ground feeders, and are overlooked by birds which habitually fre- 

 quent trees ; but the Meadowlark finds them and devours them 

 by thousands. The remainder of the insect food is made up of 

 a few ants, wasps, and spiders, with a few bugs, including some 

 chinch bugs. 



" The vegetable food consists of grain, weed, and other hard 

 seeds. Grain in general amounts to 14, and weed and other 

 seeds to 12 per cent. The grain, principally corn, is mostly eaten 

 in winter and early spring, and must be therefore simply waste 

 kernels ; only a trifle is consumed in summer and autumn, when 

 it is most plentiful. No trace of sprouting grain was discovered. 

 Clover seed was found in only six stomachs, and but little in 

 each. Seeds of weeds, principally ragweed, bam grass, and 

 smartweed, are eaten from November to April, inclusive, but 

 during the rest of the year are replaced by insects. 



" Briefly stated, more than half of the Meadowlark's food 

 consists of harmful insects ; its vegetable food is composed either 

 of noxious weeds or waste grain, and the remainder is made up 

 of useful beetles or neutral insects and spiders. A strong point 

 in the bird's favor is that, although naturally an insect eater, it 

 is able to subsist on vegetable food, and consequently is not 

 forced to migrate in cold v^^eather any farther than is necessary 

 to find ground free from snow. This explains why it remains 

 for the most part in the United States during winter, and moves 

 northward as soon as the snow disappears from its usual haunts. 



" There is one danger to which the Meadowlark is exposed. 

 As its flesh is highly esteemed, the bird is often shot for the 



