1914] Bryant: Economic Status of the Western Meadowlark 379 



to the food of birds. Notes on the economic status of over four 

 hundred species of native birds and of over fifty species of 

 foreign birds are to be found in these publications. In many 

 cases extended studies have been made of the food of birds by 

 the examination of stomach contents. In no other country has 

 economic ornithology been accorded the attention it has received 

 at the hands of the United States Department of Agriculture. 



In a newly settled state like California, where large tracts 

 of land are being brought under cultivation, disturbances of the 

 natural order of bird life arise in two ways. First, the natural 

 food supply of birds is destroyed through cultivation. Second, 

 a new source of food is often supplied by cultivated crops. 

 Hence birds become of great economic importance. The variety 

 of conditions to be found in so large a state as California makes 

 a study of these economic relations of birds complex and difficult. 

 In spite of the need, therefore, of a knowledge of the value of 

 birds, comparatively little work along this line has been done 

 in this state. Until recently two bulletins entitled "Birds of 

 California in Relation to the Fruit Industry," by F. E. L. Beal, 

 published by the U. S. Bureau of Biological Survey, and a few 

 scattered notes in ornithological literature afforded the only pub- 

 lished material on the economic relations of birds in California. 



Complaints of the depredations of birds in this state have 

 been numerous. The injury to fruit caused by the linnet (Car- 

 podacus mexicanus frontalis) is so great that this bird is branded 

 as a pest by the fruit-grower. In recent years grain-growers 

 have complained of damage to sprouting grain caused by western 

 meadowlarks (Sturnella neglect a). These birds have been ac- 

 cused, and rightly so, of boring down beside the sprout with 

 their long bills and pulling off the kernel of grain. Ranchers 

 have maintained that in some cases whole fields of grain have 

 had to be reseeded because of the loss occasioned by these birds. 

 In fact, there has developed so much sentiment against the 

 meadowlark that there has been a persistent attempt made at 

 each legislative session to take protection from the bird. 



As the western meadowlark is a bird defended by many 

 because of its insectivorous habits, the agitation following the 

 complaints has afforded an exceptional opportunity to deter- 



