8 



THE OOLOGIST 



difficulty in launching the boat and had 

 to carry some trees to make a tempo- 

 rary bridge to enable us to reach water 

 deep enough to float our boat; however, 

 like the bad boy, we got theie all the 

 same. This lake seems to be an ideal 

 resort for water fowl, and lots of Ducks, 

 Grebes, Sandpipers, Kilhleers, etc., but 

 the pair of Loons with their two half 

 grown young were what we were most 

 interested in. As soon as we pointed 

 the head of the boat toward them they 

 dove, and though we carefully searched 

 the lake shore we saw nothing more of 

 them. Neither could we And any sign 

 of a nest. I shot a pair of Sand- 

 pipers and some Yellow Legs, and as 

 the sun was getting pretty low, we 

 started for home, reaching there at 12 

 p. m. 



My experience with Loons in 1900 

 will be the subject of my next paper. 

 Chris. P. Forge. 

 Carman, Man. 



The Food Supply of the Meadowlark. 



BY C. C. PURDUM. 



Although belonging to the Oriole 

 family the Meadowlark (Stumella mag- 

 na,) differs greatly in habits etc , fr.m 

 the bird of our first paper, Icterus 

 galbula. 



Perhaps the widest difference is no- 

 ticed in tbe nesting habits. The Oriole 

 building a pendulous, compact domi- 

 cile, in the most inaccessable situation 

 it can find, while the Meadowlark hides 

 it's humble nest in or under some tuft 

 of grass. Naturally we would expect 

 the foods of these two birds to differ 

 considerably, the Meadowlark seeking 

 it's food on the ground, while the 

 Oriole takes it's repast from the trees. 

 Consequently there must be a marked 

 difference in their food. For instance, 

 while the Meadowlark eats grasshopp- 

 ers and other ground insects, the Oriole 

 feeds on the caterpillars and wasps 



which live among the trees, shrubs and 

 flowers. 



Even duriDg the portion of winter, 

 when the ground is covered with snow, 

 insects constitute the great bulk of the 

 food for the Meadowlark. The larger 

 number of these is grasshoppers, which 

 are the scourge of the farmer, but 

 which the Meadowlark carefully 

 searches out and eats. There is prob- 

 ably no bird which u so great a grass- 

 hopper destroyer. It may seem a little 

 strange that even during the period of 

 winter when the ground U covered 

 with snow, that the Meadowlark's food 

 consists so largely of insects. As a 

 matter of fact, however, examination 

 of the stomachs of birds killed during 

 this period show an average of 47 per 

 cent, of all the food eaten to be insects, 

 among which are caterpillars, spiders, 

 grasshoppers, crickets, beetles of many 

 species, wasps, bugs and myriapods. 



In the laboratory investigation of the 

 food of the Meadowlark, 238 were ex- 

 amined, collected from the District of 

 Columbia, Canada, and 24 of the states, 

 and the results obtained may be stated 

 as follows: 

 Insect food, 71-1. 

 Vegetable food, 26 5. 

 Mineral matter, 1.8. 



Excluding the mineral matter, which 

 in no case can be considered as food, 

 the record stands as follows: 

 Animal matter, 73. 

 Vegetable matter, 27. 



During the month of March the 

 Meadowlark finds enough insects to 

 constitute 73 per cent, of it's diet, and 

 this during a month when insects are 

 not to be procured with the greatest 

 ease. 



During December and January the 

 insects constitute but 39, and 24 per 

 cent, respectively, but during August 

 and September the diet is almost en- 

 tirely insect; in fact duriDg these three 

 months, no vegetable food to speak of 

 is consumed. 



