WESTERN BIRDS Meadowlark 



a distance of from four to six feet, pulling every sprout. 

 In localities where birds were not abundant, no harm 

 was done. 



Dr. Bryant found that the damage done by Meadow- 

 larks was exaggerated since the birds can pull the sprout- 

 ing grain only when it first appears above the ground, 

 as after the second and third blade appears it is too well 

 rooted, and the kernel is no longer necessary to the life 

 of the plant. Only grain which is within one and one- 

 half inches of the surface of the ground is obtainable and 

 because of the difficulty of obtaining the seed, and the 

 short time it is essential to the life of the plant, makes 

 the period of injury to fields seldom extend over two 

 weeks. Then, too, the most notable thing about this 

 investigation is the fact that in places where the birds 

 had pulled the grain little damage has been noted at 

 harvest time. Dr. Bryant thinks that in some cases the 

 crop may have been benefited by this thinning done by 

 the birds. 



The complaint of injury to melons and grapes by the 

 birds has, also, been grossly exaggerated. Investigation 

 has proved that fully sixty per cent of the birds' food is 

 animal matter, including ground beetles, grasshoppers, 

 crickets, cutworms, caterpillars, wireworms, stink-bugs, 

 and ants; and forty per cent is vegetable matter such as 

 grain and weed seed. The stomach contents of one bird 

 included thirteen cutworms, twenty-six chick-beetles, 

 and ten small ground beetles. 



It is to be hoped that this investigation will forever 

 settle the economic value of these birds so that it will 

 not be necessary for the State Audubon Society to again 

 fight for their protection, as they have had to do for so 

 many years. 



Dr. Bryant says: "Few people have any realization of 

 the great quantities of insects consumed by birds. For 

 instance, if we consider that there is an average of one 



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