184 OUR BIRD ALLIES. 
June, flies and various insects; July, grasshoppers, 
worms, and corn; August, crickets and grasshoppers ; 
September, insects, corn, and seeds of weeds ; October, 
seeds, worms, and barley; November, seeds, corn, 
and berries ; December, seeds of wild plants.” 
It will be seen that, in this list, insects and seeds 
figure to a far greater extent than grain, and that 
there is no month in the year during which the bird 
is wholly injurious. 
On the other hand, the bird is certainly mischievous 
at times, and during winter and early spring often 
injures the sprouting wheat very severely. Upon 
this habit, and the best method of prevention, the 
Rey. C. A. Johns has the following very pertinent 
remarks :— 
‘“‘ Farmers would effect a great saving if they sowed 
their wheat deeper than is the usual practice. The 
only part of the young plant which the lark touches 
is the white stalk between the grain and the blade. 
In its effort to obtain this it frequently destroys the 
whole plant, if the grain has been lodged near the 
surface ; but if the young shoot have sprouted from a 
depth of an inch or more, the bird contents itself 
with as much as it can reach without digging, and 
leaves the grain uninjured and capable of sprouting 
again.” 
With reference to this suggestion, I would also 
urge that by deeper sowing the damage wrought by 
sparrows at seed-time would likewise be minimised ; 
for the birds, so far as I can ascertain, never dig up 
the grain when once it is fairly covered in.. Now, under 
