THE LARKS 



541 



farming country and prairie land, travelling in flocks 

 except when nesting, and having sociable, unsuspicious 

 natures, so that one may often approach very close to 

 them. They often run along ahead of one in the road 

 until pressed too closely, when they mount into the air 

 with cheerful whistles. 



The horned larks begin to nest very early in the spring 

 and often the nests are overtaken by late snows, as shown 

 in the illustration. The nest itself is placed in a depres- 

 sion in the sod with no protection whatsoever, but the 

 olive or grayish speckled eggs are, nevertheless, quite 

 inconspicuous even when left uncovered. 



NEST OF THE HORNED LARK 



Built during early March and overtaken by a late fall of snow. The bird was 

 flushed from the nest by the photographer. 



During the breeding season the males perform aerial 

 evolutions which quite equal those of the skylark in daring 

 if not in melody. Mounting upwards on a great spiral, 

 the bird ascends until nearly lost to view. Then poising 

 for a few moments and breaking into song, it undertakes 

 a thrilling dive toward the earth, closing its wings and 

 dropping like a plummet, threatening to dash itself to 

 pieces, but finally, when within four or five feet of the 

 earth, it catches itself, swerves and very gracefully alights. 



Except during the nesting season, the food of the 

 horned lark is largely the seeds of weeds, only twenty 

 per cent being composed of insects. In some localities, 

 especially in California, complaints have been made 

 against them because their fondness for seeds has taken 

 them into the newly planted fields and they have consumed 

 large quantities of seed wheat. In these places the wheat 

 is sown broadcast and it naturally attracts many birds, 

 such as the mourning dove, meadowlark and blackbirds, 

 as well as the horned larks, and undoubtedly considerable 

 damage is done. It can easily be averted, however, by 

 drilling the wheat, and certainly it is a most near-sighted 

 policy that allows these birds to be shot or poisoned when 

 their services in destroying insects and weeds are so much 



needed. For during the nesting season over forty per 

 cent of their food consists of grasshoppers, white grubs, 

 cutworms, weevils, chinch bugs, etc., while nestlings are 

 fed almost entirely upon insects. And at other times of 

 the year, though the numbers of insects destroyed be 

 smaller, they are of great value in consuming such obnox- 

 ious weeds as fox-tail and crab-grass, amaranthus, pig- 

 weed, bur-clover and corn-cockle, the seeds of which are 

 a very important item in their food. 



In former years, especially in California, larks were 

 shot and poisoned about the grain fields or netted for the 

 markets of the larger cities, where they were sold as " reed 

 birds," but to-day, because of a better understanding of 

 their economic value, they are deservedly protected by law. 



NATIONAL FOREST RECEIPTS 



RECEIPTS from national forests for the fiscal year 

 1916 reached the high-water mark of approxi- 

 mately $2,820,000, according to figures just com- 

 piled. This is $341,000 above the 1915 total, which in turn 

 exceeded any previous year. Officials say that the 

 gain was due to increased demand for all classes of 

 forest products. 



There was a decided growth in the revenue from all 

 sources, the largest being that of $203,000 in timber sales. 

 Grazing fees showed a gain of $77,000. Receipts for 

 water-power development were over $12,000 more than 

 for 1915. Sales of turpentine privileges and charges for 

 special uses were both considerably in excess of the 

 previous year. 



WESTERN FORESTRY MEETING 



THE annual " forest industry conference " of the 

 Western Forestry and Conservation Association 

 and the annual Pacific Logging Congress will be 

 held jointly again this year, in Portland, October 24 to 27. 

 These are the two largest gatherings of Pacific coast forest 

 interests, being attended by lumbermen,' state and gov- 

 ernment officials and railroad representatives from the 

 five western timbered states from Montana to California 

 and from western Canada. Prior to 1915 they were held 

 separately, but a joint session in San Francisco during 

 the fair proved the advantage of a single occasion when 

 the attendance is so largely identical. 



October 24 will be devoted to protective problems and 

 October 25 to matters of general lumber interest, includ- 

 ing such topics as the Government's lumber study, Cana- 

 dian lumber affairs, foreign trade, and better correlation 

 of organized effort to improve the industry. Representa- 

 tives of the Federal Trade Commission, the Forest Ser- 

 vice, the Department of Commerce and the National 

 Lumber Manufacturers' Association will be present. 

 October 26 and 27 the Pacific Logging Congress will be 

 in session to discuss improvements in logging practice, 

 leaving the last evening by special train to spend October 

 28 in the Crays' Harbor camps to see field demonstration. 



