BIRDS. 145 



From careful examination it has been found that 

 the food of meadow larks is made up largely of 

 insects. Its vegetable diet consists of a few grains 

 of cultivated plants, and the seeds of noxious 

 weeds, the latter almost wholly predominating. 

 The insects eaten are mostly beetles, caterpillars, 

 and grasshoppers. 



Some of these beetles are injurious to cultivated 

 crops and some are not. The caterpillars are those 

 popularly known as "cut-worms," an insect most de- 

 structive to grasses, young corn especially. Cut- 

 worms are difficult to kill by artificial methods 

 from the fact that they spend a great deal of their 

 time beneath the surface of the soil. They come 

 up only long enough to cut off stalks of young 

 grass, which they drag back into their holes. The 

 destructive work of grasshoppers is so well known 

 that it needs no comment. They, too, are difficult 

 to handle by artificial methods. 



During the grasshopper season, meadow larks, 

 as well as many other birds, eat very little other 

 food. Female grasshoppers make small holes in 

 the ground and lay their eggs therein. During 

 this process, myriads are snapped up by the 

 meadow larks before they have time to deposit 

 their eggs. This diminishes the number that 

 would be hatched out the next season. 



The meadow lark goes south only when it is 

 compelled to do so by severe weather. It stays 

 all winter in portions of southern Illinois, and in 



