1914] Bryant: Economic Status of the Western Meadoivlark 393 



A committee appointed by the British Association for the 

 Advancement of Science is now investigating the feeding habits 

 of British birds by a study of the contents of the crops and 

 gizzards of both adults and nestlings, and by collation of obser- 

 vational evidence, with the object of obtaining precise knowledge 

 of the economic status of many of the commoner birds affecting 

 rural science. Data as to the environmental conditions under 

 which the bird was feeding and the available food supply are 

 obtained with each specimen. All data obtained from the stomach 

 examination are tabulated, and the weight of the bird and the 

 condition and weight of the gizzard contents are recorded. 



The United States Department of Agriculture has carried on 

 the most extensive work in economic ornithology ever attempted 

 by one institution. Study along this line was begun in 1885. 

 Since that time over sixty thousand stomachs of birds have been 

 examined, and the results, with the addition of data collected in 

 the field, have been published in more than one hundred and 

 thirty bulletins. 



Other investigations have also been conducted. The most 

 extensive work has been done in Illinois by the pioneer economic 

 ornithologist, Professor S. A. Forbes. Massachusetts, Wisconsin, 

 and Pennsylvania have also carried on investigations, the work 

 being done by Forbush (1908), King (1883), and Warren (1888) 

 respectively. Practically every state has been supplied with 

 some literature on the subject by the state university or the 

 agricultural experiment station. 



At the third ornithological congress at Paris in 1900, the 

 section of economic ornithology and bird preservation reported 

 in favor of urging all countries and even their governments to 

 take up seriously the subject of the utility or harmfulness of 

 birds as being of the greatest economic importance. It was 

 urged that "inquiries should be instituted on regular business 

 lines, that migratory and non-migratory species alike should be 

 observed during every month of the year and for several years 

 in succession, that the contents of their stomachs should be care- 

 fully noted, and lists prepared of their action towards the 

 farmer's crops." 



The amount of careful work along these lines which has been 

 done since this time is very encouraging. The last few years 



