1914] Bryant: Economic Status of the Western Meadowlark 443 



NUMBER OF INSECTS TAKEN BY WESTERN MEADOWLARKS AT STOCKTON, SAN JOAQUIN 



COUNTY, CALIFORNIA 



ii . s i i 1 1, i s . i i 



I 2 Date J I g J* 6 I ff 3 1 I 



15 March-June, 1912 6 25 88 52 88 68 4 7 4 311 31 



Av. per bird .4 1.6 5.8 3.4 5.8 4.5 .2 .4 .2 20 2.0 



Av. per bird per day 1.2 4.8 17.4 10.2 17.4 13.5 .6 1.2 .6 60.0 6.0 



Few people have any realization of the great quantities of 

 insects consumed by birds. For instance, if we consider that 

 there is an average of one meadowlark to every two acres of 

 available land for cultivation (11,000,000 acres) in the Sacra- 

 mento and San Joaquin valleys and that each pair of birds raises 

 an average of four young, each one of which averages one ounce 

 in weight while in the nest and consumes half its own weight of 

 food each day, it takes over 343 y% tons of insect food each day 

 to feed the young birds in the great valleys alone. The increased 

 consumption of insect food due to nestling birds comes at a time 

 when insects are most numerous, and so is instrumental in helping 

 to prevent an undue increase of insects. As insects become 

 injurious only when in maximum numbers, this increased con- 

 sumption by birds is doubly important. 



A conservative estimate of the approximate amount of the 

 different kinds of food consumed by the average meadowlark in 

 California during a year is as follows: 



Grain 1% Ibs. 



Weed seed V 2 



Insects 2% 



Total 6 



The fact that the western meadowlark eats both animal and 

 vegetable food is a point in its favor. If it were exclusively 

 insectivorous the bird could not exist in such large numbers 

 because of the lack of insect food during part of the year. The 

 consequent destruction of insect life would therefore be much 

 smaller. 



