1914] Bryant: Economic Status of the WesternMeadowlark 437 



found with grain and weed seed, but seldom with insect food. 

 Doubtless the chitinous parts of the insects largely take their 

 place. 



Two nestlings and two adults contained parts of egg-shells. 

 It is a well-known fact that birds often eat the broken shells 

 after the young have hatched. In one instance, at least, the 

 parent birds had fed the young on the shells. 



PRINCIPAL, ARTICLES OF DIET 



The kinds of food forming a definite part of the food of the 

 western meadowlark for the year are as follows : 



VEGETABLE ANIMAL 



Grain 30.8% Coleoptera 21.3% 



Weed seed 5.3 Orthoptera 20.3 



Miscellaneous .6 Lepidoptera 12.2 



Hemiptera 1.7 



Hymenoptera 5.6 



Diptera .1 



Arachnida .2 

 Miscellaneous insects 1.9 



EXAMINATION OP FECES 



Other than stomach examination, the examination of feces 

 would appear to give the best evidence as to the food of birds. 

 That a considerable amount of knowledge concerning the food 

 of meadowlarks can be obtained in this way is evidenced by the 

 fact that the examination of feces of meadowlarks collected June 

 15, 1912, in the Berkeley Hills showed the following: Thorax 

 of spider, heads of ants, mandibles and other parts of grass- 

 hoppers, wing covers and mandibles of beetles and pubescence 

 from wild oats. 



The examination of some feces collected from nestling birds 

 at Lathrop, San Joaquin County, showed that these same hard 

 parts passed through the digestive tract undigested. Conse- 

 quently this affords a practical method of determining the kind 

 of food taken. Its value as a means of determining the amount 

 of food is much less, for only the more resistant parts can be 

 found. 



