424 University of California Publications in Zoology ["VOL. 11 



three-tenths per cent of the food for the year. Over 150 seeds 

 of filaree (Erodium sp.) have been taken from a single stomach. 

 Tarweed, pigweed, tumbleweed, mustard, turkey mullein, Napa 

 thistle, Johnson grass, canary grass, foxtail, sunflower, burr- 

 clover, and nightshade seeds have been found in numbers ranging 

 up to fifty. In some few instances stomachs have been found 

 entirely filled with weed seeds. Western meadowlarks appear 

 to feed upon weed seeds to a considerable extent during the time 

 in which they are available. Most weed seeds do not mature 

 until late summer and fall. After plowing begins they are no 

 longer available in cultivated districts, except along fence rows 

 and in uncultivated fields. 



Economic importance. The destruction of weed seeds must 

 be considered of value to the agriculturist. Weeds even in small 

 numbers take a toll in the grain field. The destruction of weed 

 seeds accomplished by western meadowlarks must help to limit, 

 in some measure, the number of weeds which grow in fields and 

 fence rows the following year. Meadowlarks feeding in grain 

 fields must destroy weed seed that would not otherwise be de- 

 stroyed. Their habit of feeding on sprouting seeds increases 

 their efficiency as weed-seed destroyers. Seeds eaten are digested. 

 In no case have undigested seeds been found in excrement. 



Fruit 



No vegetable matter found in the stomachs has been identified 

 as fruit. Grape seeds have been found in a number of cases and 

 there is no doubt that western meadowlarks eat grapes to a slight 

 extent. No serious complaint as to their depredations in this 

 direction has been received. The stomachs of practically all of 

 the birds collected in vineyards have been filled with insects, 

 mostly beetles. 



A systematic list of the grain and weed seeds found in the 

 stomachs follows : 



Grain 

 Oats 

 Barley 

 Wheat 



Field corn (Zea mays) 

 Sorghum (Andropogon sorghum subsp.) 



