472 University of California Publications in Zoology [VOL. 11 



bird does more harm than good. One and three-fourths quarts 

 of insects taken by a western meadowlark during a year more 

 than pay for less than one quart of grain, a large part of which 

 does not represent a loss. 



Although emphasis has been laid on the dollar and cents 

 value, yet the other values which cannot be reckoned on the 

 money basis must be taken into account. And here we find an 

 even stronger defense of the western meadowlark, for the esthetic 

 and scientific values greatly strengthen the case for the bird, in 

 spite of the fact that these values are often unacknowledged by 

 many who profit by them. 



The investigation has shown that for the following ten reasons 

 the western meadowlark should remain a protected non-game 

 bird. 



TEN REASONS WHY THE WESTERN MEADOWLARK 



(STURNELLA NEGLECT A) SHOULD BE A 



PROTECTED NON-GAME BIRD 



1. As a destroyer of cutworms, caterpillars, and grasshoppers, 

 three of the worst insect pests in the State of California, the 

 western meadowlark is probably unequaled by any other bird. 

 The stomachs of meadowlarks examined have averaged as high 

 as six cutworms and caterpillars, and sixteen grasshoppers apiece. 

 Maximum numbers of sixty-six cutworms and of thirty-two 

 grasshoppers have been taken from a single stomach. As the 

 time of digestion is about four hours, three times the average 

 must be consumed daily. Other injurious insects destroyed are 

 click-beetles, the larvae of which are wireworms, May beetles, 

 weevils, crickets, Jerusalem crickets, stink-bugs, flies, and crane- 

 flies. Fifty-nine and six-tenths per cent of the food for the year 

 is made up of animal food. Each meadowlark in the state con- 

 sumes, at the least calculation, six pounds of food each year, two 

 and three-fourths pounds of which is made up of insects, most 

 of which are injurious to crops. 



