214 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



tivorous. but soon after leaving the nest they 

 become much more vegetarian than even the 

 adults. The Horned Larks of California ditTer 

 markedly in food habits from those of other 

 parts of the country, being almost entirely 

 vegetarian. It might appear that the California 

 Horned Larks are decidedly injurious, but a 

 large proportion of the grain is vi'ild and hence 

 of no value to the farmer. Of the grain eaten 

 in the other States, buckwheat is a negligible 

 amount, while practically all of the corn and 

 oats eaten is waste. Although the Great Plains 

 region, the most important wheat-growing area 

 of the country and also the center of abundance 

 of the Horned Larks, is represented by a pro- 

 portionate number of the stomachs examined, 

 yet the percentage of wheat eaten is only 1.66. 

 In fact, the Larks of this region, considered 

 separately, are even more insectivorous than 

 those from east of the Mississippi, one-fourth 

 of their food being animal matter. 



The charges made by farmers that the Horned 

 Larks eat newly sown grain are confirmed, but in 

 attempting to estimate the economic value of the 

 birds it must be borne in mind that the insects 

 they eat compensate many fold for the seed 

 grain taken, even considered bulk for bulk. As 

 a matter of fact, however, the insects eaten con- 

 stitute almost twice as great a proportion of 

 the food as the grain, including even that which 

 is waste. 



It is impossible to estimate in dollars and cents 

 the benefits resulting from the work of the 

 Horned Lark, but it is none the less real on 

 that account. Moreover, the services of the bird 

 cost the farmer practically nothing save a small 

 toll levied here and there upon seed grain. 

 The Horned Lark by its services to agriculture 

 earns a right to live, and deserves protection at 

 the hands of man. 



W. L. McAtee, in The Horned Larks and 

 their Relation to Agriculture. 



Photograph oy A. A. Allen 



PRAIRIE HORNED LARKS 



CROWS AND JAYS 



Order Passercs ; suborder Oscincs; family CorvidcB 



ROWS and Jays are large to rather large birds. The bill is variable in 

 shape but always long; the ridge on the top curves at the apex; it is never 

 distinctly notched and usually not at all. The nostril is usually round and 

 completely hidden under a tuft. There are distinct bristles at the corners 

 of the mouth. The wing varies as to relative length : long and pointed in 

 the Ravens and Crows; short and rounded in the Magpies and Jays. The 

 tail varies greatly as to form and relative length, but it is never notched 

 nor forked; usually it is rounded, but often it is graduated, sometimes exces- 

 sively so. 



The Crow-Jay family is so nearly cosmopolitan that only New Zealand 

 and portions of Polynesia are without representatives. The group is most 

 developed, however, in the northern hemisphere. A somewhat singular fact in connection 

 with their distribution in the western hemisphere is that while Jays and Magpies extend 

 from the northern limit of forests almost to the southern extremity of the temperate dis- 

 tricts of South America, no part of tropical America being without representatives, the 



