THE MEADOWLARK 



"The lark is so brimful of gladness and love — 

 The green fields below him, the blue sky above, 

 That he sings and he sings and forever sings he, 

 'I love my love, and my love loves me.' " ^ 



His voice, clear and sweet, rings out joyously across 

 the fields, fragrant with up-turned earth and bright with 

 sunshine. He is the delight of spring meadows as Bob 

 White is of summer fields. 



The meadowlark has many friends: those who love him 

 for his winning ways — his brightness, cheerfulness, and 

 devotion to his family; epicures, ignorant of his value 

 or fond only of their own pleasure; and people who realize 

 that he is of enormous economic importance. 



He was formerly believed to be a destroyer of grain. 

 He was accused of pulling up as much com and oats as 

 crows, and of eating clover seed ; but he is now recognized 

 as "one of the most useful allies of agriculture, standing 

 almost without a peer as a destroyer of noxious insects." ^ 



So untiring is he in his search, that he uses his long 

 sharp bill, even while snow is on the ground, to probe the 

 earth for larvae. He rids the fields of grasshoppers, 

 crickets, beetles, caterpillars, flies, spiders, and "thousand- 

 legs." Grasshoppers are his favorite delicacy. Profes- 

 sor Beal states that these insects form three-fourths of the 

 meadowlark's food during August. He eats also large 

 numbers of the white grubs of beetles "which are among 

 the worst enemies of many cultivated crops, notably 

 grasses and grains, and to a less extent of strawberries 

 and garden vegetables." ^ 



* Written by Coleridge about the European skylark, but applicable to 

 our meadowlark. 



* & "^ Farmers' Bulletin 630 and 755, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 

 Biological Survey. 



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